Greg Kern currently serves as the branch chief for airborne ISR collection systems within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence). He oversees requirements generation, implementation, acquisition and fielding of unmanned systems, payloads and sensors to the Military Departments and Combatant Commanders ensuring integration with existing and future exploitation and dissemination systems. Responsible for the oversight of nearly $5 billion in annual execution of manned and unmanned systems, Mr Kern develops and administers policy for the integration of manned and unmanned systems into the Department’s Battlespace Awareness portfolio.
Prior to his assignment to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Kern served 23 years in the United States Air Force with his last assignment as the Deputy Director of Air Operations and the Commander of the Air Force Operations Group at the Pentagon in Washington DC. He served in numerous command and leadership positions to include Commander 380th Air Expeditionary Wing (United Arab Emirates), Commander 9th Operations Group (Beale Air Force Base), Deputy Chief of Staff for NORAD/USNORTHCOM and Commander 5th Reconnaissance Squadron (Republic of Korea). During his time on active duty he held numerous staff positions including a tour as a Congressional Fellow serving on the staff of a senior United States Senator. Versed in Force Development and Force Management, Mr Kern has expertise as a program and budget analyst serving in the Joint Staff, as “Initial Cadre” for the standup of USNORTHCOM and later as the Deputy Director for the NORAD/USNORTHCOM Programs and Requirements.
He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 1985, received a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Science and a Masters from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in National Resource Strategy. He is a graduate of the Harvard Senior Executive Fellowship program, the Leadership Development Program (Center for Creative Leadership), the Kenan-Flagler Enterprise Leadership Program (University of North Carolina) and is currently pursuing an advanced degree in Mathematics. He has more than 4,000 hours of flight time in the T-38, U-2 and Global Hawk.
