The Honorable Barbara Barrett

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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Patron

Honored by:
Miss Lyda Hill

The Twenty-fifth Secretary of the Air Force, Barbara Barrett led transformation of America's military by standing up the new United States Space Force within the Department of the Air Force.

A defense advisor through seven presidential administrations, Air Force Secretary Barrett also was a strategic leader focused on space, aeronautics, and science in settings from corporate to academic and from military to diplomatic. Her decades of aerospace experience included four terms as chairman of the board of the Aerospace Corporation. Earlier, She served as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and Vice Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board. She represented the U.S. as the Ambassador to the Republic of Finland. An instrument rated pilot, she had advocated the policy and law changes that opened fighter and bomber pilot roles to women. In 2009 Barrett qualified for space flight as backup on Soyuz TMA-16 to the International Space Station.

As Air Force Secretary, Barrett partnered with the Space and Air Chiefs to stand up the U.S. Space Force to safeguard free, open access to the ultimate high ground for all benevolent users. She accelerated modernization of Air and Space Forces and championed investing in Airmen and Guardians, developing capable leaders, and caring for all families. She factored local education into strategic basing decisions, improved housing, and chaired the Department of Defense's Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. She issued and implemented the Department of the Air Force's Arctic Strategy. Beyond the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, she led Airmen and Guardians as they assisted civil authorities confronting unprecedented hurricanes, forest fires, civil unrest, and a pandemic.

As Air Force Secretary Barrett expressed her confidence that "the United States of America is safe and secure because of the brave men and women who stand the watch, guard the perimeter, ensure free and open access to space, and defend democracy from the sky."