Christopher J. Bowie

Trained as a historian, Dr. Bowie joined the RAND Corporation in 1981 as a member of the technical staff, where he worked on nuclear bomber operations, aerial refueling concepts, fighter employment operations, and a variety of air power doctrine and strategy issues. 

Dr. Bowie left RAND to serve as a member of the Secretary of the Air Force’s personal staff from 1989-1991 and was awarded the Exceptional Civilian Service medal. Following this assignment, Dr. Bowie returned to RAND to serve as Associate Director of the National Security Studies program. In 1994, Dr. Bowie joined Northrop Grumman, where he held a variety of management positions at the B-2 Division, Air Combat Systems, Integrated Systems, and Corporate.

In 2002, the Air Force selected him for the Senior Executive Service to serve as the Deputy Director for Strategic Planning on the Air Staff. In that capacity, Dr. Bowie helped develop future USAF force structure plans, force structure planning tools, Air Force advocacy and outreach products, divestiture contingency planning, space policy, and a variety of other key long-range planning issues. 

Dr. Bowie rejoined Northrop Grumman in 2005 to conduct cost-effectiveness and policy analyses of a wide array of issues, including aerial refueling, long-range strike, unmanned systems, radar technology, aircraft sustainment, and ballistic missiles. In 2010, he was appointed Director of the Corporate Analysis Center, where he and his team provided analytic support to senior management on a variety of key issues.

Dr. Bowie retired from Northrop Grumman in 2021 and continues to write on key air power and national security issues.