Beavercreek HS grad nominated for third star, new Space Force responsibilities

Thomas Gnau, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
·2 min read

May 31—President Joe Biden has nominated Maj. Gen. Leah G. Lauderback, a Beavercreek High School graduate, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general, with assignment to the Pentagon as deputy chief of staff, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR), and cyber effects operations, at Air Force headquarters.

Lauderback today is deputy chief of space operations for intelligence in the Office of the Chief of Space Operations for the Space Force, also at the Pentagon.

Lauderback is also a former commander of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (known as "NASIC") at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

In her new role, she will oversee the the Air Force's ISR enterprise.

Lauderback is no stranger to Wright-Patterson. She commanded NASIC from May 2014 to May 2016.

"This is very comfortable, very familiar, feels like home already," she said in 2014 on assuming command of NASIC. "... I'm humbled, honored and privileged to command NASIC."

Lauderback was the first openly gay commander of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. She married her wife, Brenda, about a month before taking command there.

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner said he has worked with her since she led NASIC.

"We worked together incredibly closely on NASIC's expansion," Turner said Tuesday. "She was incredibly knowledgeable, hard-working and one of the most talent commanders of NASIC. When she was transferred to the Pentagon, I was very glad that I was continuing to work with her."

Turner, R-Dayton, is the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

According to her Air Force biography, Lauderback received her commission in 1993 from Clemson University.

Her career as an intelligence officer "spans the strategic, tactical and operational levels of war throughout the Pacific, Central and European theaters of operation," the Air Force said.

She commanded at the wing, group and squadron levels, served as the senior military assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and led as the Director of Intelligence for the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, Southwest Asia. She is also a graduate and former instructor of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School.