{"id":785,"date":"2025-11-17T18:26:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T19:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sleepystork.com\/?p=785"},"modified":"2025-11-27T10:27:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T10:27:03","slug":"the-u-s-air-force-academy-is-on-the-brink-of-failure-heres-how-to-save-it-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sleepystork.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/the-u-s-air-force-academy-is-on-the-brink-of-failure-heres-how-to-save-it-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Air Force Academy is on the brink of failure. Here\u2019s how to save it. (Opinion)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an April Denver Post column<\/a>, together with 91 cosigners, including various distinguished military thought leaders, I warned that leadership at the U.S. Air Force Academy was de-emphasizing academic excellence. I reported the majority sentiment surrounding me at the time, as a visiting professor from the University of California, San Diego, because those in uniform and those who depended on Air Force Academy for their livelihood could not.<\/p>\n

What I failed to emphasize sufficiently in that column is the transient nature of excellence in cutting-edge educational programs, like those at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), in the absence of leaders who provide thoughtful academic stewardship to maintain and continuously renew them.<\/p>\n

For decades, USAFA attracted and retained the \u201cbest and brightest\u201d military and civilian\/veteran thought leaders and cadets to participate in a vibrant educational exchange open to critical analysis and debate on the key militarily-relevant issues of the day.<\/p>\n

To mention a few such issues: (1) autonomous and remotely-piloted aircraft and missile systems, (2) the legal and ethical operation of such systems, (3) space domain awareness<\/a>, (4) modern tough and light structural materials with reduced radar cross section, (5) supply chain vulnerabilities of strategic materials and integrated circuits, (6) advanced radar and optical imaging and tracking systems, (7) real-time battlespace management, (8) cyberspace operations, and (9) secure global communications.<\/p>\n

As reported elsewhere, the exodus of professors (first of civilians\/veterans, and now of active duty military) has greatly accelerated. Backfilling these substantial losses with primarily military personnel with adequate technical backgrounds has largely proved fruitless, as few such military personnel are actually available to be removed from their other essential jobs for a tour at USAFA, and this ongoing exodus of talent at USAFA is by now broadly known.<\/p>\n

Civilian university presidents are generally well compensated, and for good reason. They set the academic tone, expectations, and policies of an entire educational institution, and their actions in this role are meticulously scrutinized by the public. \u00a0They appoint the best departmental leadership they possibly can, demand that these leaders do the same when recruiting and retaining individual faculty, and take responsibility when problems arise.<\/p>\n

Notably, day-to-day, a good university president boldly steps aside, and relies on departmental leadership and senior faculty, to develop a vibrant academic senate responsible for debating and instituting their joint academic vision. They do not attempt to micromanage such complex educational operations from above based on their own, admittedly limited, domain-specific expertise, while obscuring their various decisions under NDAs. USAFA has, this year, spectacularly failed to shepherd its own educational reforms in such a transparent, distributed manner, which must place trust in its own senior faculty.<\/p>\n

By virtue of my former position as a distinguished visiting professor in the department (DFME) that delivers the mechanical engineering and systems engineering degree programs at the Air Force Academy, I am acutely aware of its specific challenges. In 2024, DFME had 24 talented instructors (counting both active duty military and civilian\/veterans). Today, there are 15.<\/p>\n

By this time in 2026, by my careful count, at most 9 will remain, with possibly two new captains joining. Of course, there will also be no new visiting professors due to the major cutbacks in the DVP program implemented by USAFA.<\/p>\n

In the fall, DFME teaches 12 different courses to 600+ distinct cadets (many of whom are themselves enrolled in 3 or 4 courses). The systems engineering major is eviscerated, with only one dedicated instructor remaining by next year.<\/p>\n

Losses in other key academic departments are similar, and adequate replacements are scant. By June, Astronautics is facing the loss of seven PhD faculty (one colonel, five lieutenant colonels, and one 30-year civilian), each with decades of relevant space systems development and teaching experience.<\/p>\n

\"US
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addresses senior military officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, on Sept. 30, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Harnik\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n