Norton A. Schwartz serves as President of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a nonprofit corporation operating in the public interest. IDA manages three Federally Funded Research and Development Centers that answer the most challenging U.S. security and science policy questions with objective analysis leveraging extraordinary scientific, technical, and analytic expertise. At IDA, General Schwartz (U.S. Air Force, retired) directs the activities of more than 1,000 scientists and technologists employed by IDA.

General Schwartz has a long and prestigious career of service and leadership that spans over five decades. He was most recently President and CEO of Business Executives for National Security (BENS). During his six-year tenure at BENS, he was also a member of IDA’s Board of Trustees.

General Schwartz spent nearly 40 years in uniform, last serving as the 19th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force — a post held from 2008 to 2012. In his assignment as Chief, he served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, which trained and equipped 680,000 Active-Duty, Guard, Reserve, and Civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. Furthermore, as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the general and other service chiefs functioned as military advisers to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council, and the President.

General Schwartz is an alumnus of the Armed Forces Staff College, the National War College, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a 1994 Fellow of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Seminar XXI.

Education:
U.S. Air Force Academy Graduate
MS, Business Administration, Central Michigan University