Kirk Pierce

Lt Gen (ret) Kirk “Tick” Pierce joined The Roosevelt Group as a Senior Advisor in the spring of 2024 after 35 years of distinguished Air Force Service.  He has commanded at the Squadron, Group, Wing, and Numbered Air Force level.  Kirk is a member of the Civil Air Patrol Board of Governors and Skydio’s National Security Board of Advisors.

Prior to retirement, Kirk was the Commander of First Air Force (U.S. Air Forces Northern & U.S. Air Forces Space) and the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. As the Joint Force Air Component Commander, he was responsible for planning and conducting air defense and air sovereignty operations in the continental U.S. while supporting the deployment, sustainment, and redeployment, of U.S. Air Forces in support of USNORTHCOM and USSPACECOM.  Kirk led the formation of AFSPACE and was responsible for training and leading joint forces in contingency support operations for NASA’s human space flight programs.

As the Deputy Director of the Air National Guard, he assisted in formulating, developing, and coordinating all policies, plans, and programs affecting more than 107,700 airman and civilians in more than 1800 units throughout the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. As the NORAD Deputy Director of Operations, Kirk directed all facets of aerospace defense, including missile warning, air attack warning, and maritime warning.  Moreover, he was tasked with developing, integrating, and deploying counter small unmanned aerial systems (C-sUAS) to include a national command and control architecture.  As the ANG’s Director of Operations, Senior Intelligence Officer (SIO), and Chief Information Officer (CIO), he was responsible for operations, governance, policy implementation and execution across Air, Space, Cyber, ISR, Information Technology, and Nuclear mission sets while leading over 450 personnel within 11 Divisions.  As the Director of Plans, Programs, and Analysis, he was responsible for formulating ANG plans, programs, and analysis in support of $52 billion across the Future Year Defense Plan.  While serving as Senior Military Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense-Policy for Force Development and Strategy, Kirk was lead proponent for Services capabilities and requirements in the Quadrennial Defense Review, Joint force development in Defense Planning Guidance, and represented OSD Policy in the Program and Budget Review (PBR) process and issue teams with an emphasis on Air Force programs, joint force ISR, and Pacific theater comprehensive resiliency.

Lt Gen (ret) Pierce graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and from the National War College with a M.S. in National Security Strategy.  He is a fighter pilot with over 4900 hours predominantly in the F-15, F-16 and T-38, including 71 combat missions, and continues to fly the Boeing 787 as a commercial airline pilot.