President Obama has tapped Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke to be the Air National Guard’s next director, succeeding Lt. Gen. Bud Wyatt, who is retiring in January, announced the National Guard Bureau on Wednesday. Wyatt, who began his Air Force career in January 1972, has led the Air Guard since February 2009. Clarke is “an outstanding leader,” said Wyatt in the NGB’s release. He added that Clarke’s “wealth of command and staff positions will help shape and guide the Air Guard as we forge ahead to the future.” Clarke has led the Continental United States NORAD Region and 1st Air Force at Tyndall AFB, Fla., since August 2011. If the Senate confirms him for this new assignment, Clarke would oversee more than 106,000 Air Guard members across the 50 states and US territories. Clarke received his commission in 1981 as a distinguished graduate of the ROTC program at the University of Georgia in Athens, according to his Air Force biography. He’s served in various operational and staff assignments, including as an A-10 and F-16 instructor pilot. He’s also commanded a squadron, fighter wing, and air expeditionary wing. He was the Air Guard’s deputy director from May 2007 to June 2008.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
