Air Force to Recognize a Truly Great American:
General Bernard A. Schriever

(Washington, D.C.): Today, the United States Air Force will give lasting recognition to the
myriad accomplishments of one of the service’s most accomplished leaders: General
Bernard A.
Schriever (USAF, Ret.). It is hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to a man who
pioneered the
military and civilian use of space than the redesignation of Falcon Air Force Base — home of the
50^th Space Wing, the Joint National Test Facility and the Space Warfare Center —
as Schriever
Air Force Base.

General Schriever’s exemplary military career spanned not only thirty-five years but immense
transformations. The Army Air Corps with which he began serving in 1933 was destined to
become the U.S. Air Force. And the America to whose defense he devoted his life was destined
to emerge from its inter-war status as an introspective and ill-prepared nation to become a global
superpower. It is no overstatement to say that he personally did much to shape both of these
transformations.

This impact was perhaps most pronounced as a result of Gen. Schriever’s record of pioneering
the
development and fielding of revolutionary new technologies. He is credited, in particular, with an
absolutely seminal contribution to the Nation’s long-term military and economic power by
overcoming myriad technical challenges to perfect and deploy, on an exceedingly compressed
schedule, the ballistic missiles that formed the base for today’s strategic forces and space-launch
capabilities.

Fortunately for the country, General Schriever had the good health, personal drive and ample
opportunity to devote himself to a second career of service to the Nation, now thirty-two years
long and counting, as a private citizen. He has served on numerous presidential and other
commissions — including the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He has also been a
driving force in the aerospace industry as an influential corporate director and consultant. He has
been repeatedly decorated for both his military and civilian contributions.

Not least, over the past three decades, General Schriever has unstintingly lent his prestige,
expertise and still remarkable energy to public policy organizations like the Center for Security
Policy, on whose Board of Advisors he has served for many years. He has, through such
associations, played a continuing role in the education of his countrymen about the principles with
which he has always been associated — notably, the need for military
preparedness; the
necessity of accepting risks (including considerable concurrency in high technology
development
programs) in order to preserve America’s qualitative edge; and, in particular,
the imperative
of the United States enjoying ready, reliable access to and control of space. href=”#N_1_”>⁽¹⁾

The Center for Security Policy joins General Schriever’s many friends and admirers in
congratulating him — and in commending the Air Force for its decision to recognize in this most
permanent fashion a truly great American.

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