Maj. Gen. Jason R. Armagost is the Commander, Eighth Air Force, and Commander, Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. "The Mighty Eighth" is responsible for the service’s bomber force and airborne nuclear command and control assets, encompassing approximately 24,000 Airmen across six installations, and proudly operating more than 150 E-4, B-1, B-2, B-52 and T-38 aircraft. The J-GSOC serves as the central command and control node for all operations within Air Force Global Strike Command, orchestrating warfighting and readiness activities for the Commander, Air Forces Strategic.

Maj. Gen. Armagost graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and was commissioned in 1992. He has served in multiple operational and training assignments and logged more than 2,900 hours in the B-2A, F-16CJ, F- 16CG, B-1B, B-52H and T-38A. His notable educational and staff assignments include a fellowship at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, California, Chief of Nuclear Operations on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, and Director of Strategic Plans, Programs, and Requirements at Air Force Global Strike Command.

Maj. Gen. Armagost commanded the 13th Bomb Squadron at Whiteman AFB, Missouri, the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, North Dakota, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. His operational assignments supported contingency operations during operations Desert Strike, Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Inherent Resolve, Freedom’s Sentinel and Deliberate Resolve. He also served as the Deputy Commanding General for Security Assistance Group-Ukraine, where he led coordination of the DoD’s historic security assistance support effort to the Ukrainian government. Further, he has flown numerous combat missions in the F-16CJ, B-2A, B-1B and the B-52H.

 Ambassador Susan M. Elliott is an accomplished diplomat with an earned doctorate from Indiana University. During her 27-year diplomatic career, Ambassador Elliott held a variety of leadership positions at the U.S. Department of State. She became President and CEO of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in August 2018.

From 2015 to 2017, Ambassador Elliott served as the Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander of the United States European Command. Ambassador Elliott was the U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan from 2012 to 2015. Prior to her Ambassadorial appointment, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State.

Ambassador Elliott joined the U.S. Department of State in March 1990. During her Foreign Service career, Ambassador Elliott worked in a variety of overseas and Washington-based assignments. Her previous overseas assignments include Minister Counselor for Political Affairs in Moscow, Russia; Principal Officer in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Deputy Economic Counselor and Visa Section Chief in Athens, Greece. Other overseas assignments include Moscow, Russia and Lima, Peru.

Ambassador Elliott worked on the staff of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a Deputy Executive Secretary and Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff. Earlier in her career she reported on conflicts in the countries of the former Soviet Union when she worked in the Office of the Coordinator for Regional Conflicts in the New Independent States.