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Richard Myers
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Live Webcast September 13, 2002, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
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Gen. Richard B. Myers is the first Air Force officer to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff in nearly 20 years. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Myers advises President Bush and the National Security Council, helps plan all military operations, and makes important decisions about weapons and armed services.
Myers was born in 1942 in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Merriam, Kansas. At Kansas State University, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) of the Air Force and in 1965 received his bachelor's in mechanical engineering as well as his commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. He has logged 4,100 flying hours during his career, including more than 600 combat hours in Vietnam.
Myers' first major command came in November 1993, when he took over as head of U.S. Forces Japan and the Fifth Air Force at the Yokota Air Force Base. After three years, he went to the Pentagon as an assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. In 1997, he was named commander of Pacific Air Forces in Hawaii. In August 1998 he was promoted to commander-in-chief of three important installations, including the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
President Clinton appointed Myers vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a post he held from March 2000 until President Bush picked him to succeed Army Gen. Hugh Shelton as chairman in September 2001. The Senate unanimously confirmed Myers' appointment three days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Myers and his wife have three children.
In Depth
Browse for other NPR stories about Richard Myers.
Related Links:
• The Joint Chiefs of Staff site at the Defense Technical Information Center.
• Biography of Richard Myers at that site.
• An Article on TIME.com discussing the appointment of Richard Myers.
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