John A. Warden III

David Halberstam asserted in War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals (2002):

John Warden retired from the Air Force in June 1995, and shortly thereafter started his own consulting company to pursue the application of strategy in the business world. He co-authored, with Leland A. Russell, Winning in FastTime, in which he encapsulates his ideas and theory about strategy and effects-based planning into a process they call "Prometheus".

During his tenure, the school received several official honors, such as the General Muir S. Fairchild Educational Achievement Award in 1994 and 1995. Colonel Warden's impact will be felt for years to come as the more than eighteen hundred Majors who graduated during his time as Commandant, some of whom have already reached General Officer rank, continue their careers in the Air Force.

His impact on the future of air power in the United States Air Force is still being assessed, but "several distinguished military historians, officers, and other experts have concluded that Warden defined the very terms of reference for the 1991 Desert Storm military strategy and thereby introduced a new approach to the conduct of war".

In 1991, at the recommendation of the Secretary of the Air Force, Donald B. Rice, Colonel Warden became the Special Assistant for Policy Studies and National Security Affairs to the Vice President of the United States, Dan Quayle. Warden represented the Office of the Vice President on numerous interagency policy coordinating committees and focused on American productivity and competitiveness. Quayle credited Warden with having finalized the Manufacturing Technology Initiative, a plan announced in 1992 that provided for American company representatives to study Japanese manufacturing processes in Japan. a bilateral agreement that enabled American enterprises to become increasingly familiar with Japanese production technology. Quayle also credited Warden with introducing senior government officials to the Six Sigma concept of business management and quality control, and with strengthening National Security through the enhancement of industrial competitiveness.

The Gulf War Air Power Survey documents how Warden managed to "define the debate on the military strategy for 1991 through his presentations to Generals Powell and Schwarzkopf".

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Saddam Hussein's move took nearly everyone by surprise. General Norman Schwarzkopf, who was in charge of the CENTCOM (Central Command) area telephoned the Pentagon on August 8 and asked that the Air Force "put planners to work on a strategic bombing campaign aimed at Iraq's military, which would provide the retaliatory options we needed." Schwarzkopf needed two things: a way to defend Saudi Arabia, and the ability to strike Iraq if Saddam made a crazy move.

Norman Schwarzkopf declared that "together we mapped out the strategic concept that ultimately led to our country's great victory in Desert Storm". Warden's "Five Rings Model" was a central element in the presentation to General Schwarzkopf of the general outline for the Air Campaign in late August, 1990.

In 1989, after a tour of duty as Wing Commander of the Thirty-Sixth Tactical Fighter Wing in Bitburg, Germany, Colonel Warden was again assigned to the Pentagon. He was placed in charge of the Directorate of Warfighting Concepts, where he continued to conceive, develop, and promote his ideas surrounding air power, particularly that land-based air power now constituted the dominant form of national presence and power projection; as captured in the phrase he coined; "Global Reach – Global Power"

Warden was promoted to Colonel at the age of thirty nine and selected for the National War College. Colonel Warden's first book, The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat was published from his National War College research in 1988. In it, he defined his theories of airpower. Many of the concepts in the book became the framework for the air campaign in the First Gulf War, and formed the basis for what is now known as the Prometheus Strategic Planning System. The Air Campaign further cemented Warden's reputation as a brilliant, but controversial strategist. In this complex book, he focused on the concept of air power as a determinant factor in modern warfare. He directly challenged the prevailing doctrine entitled AirLand Battle, which held that air power must always play a subordinate role to ground operations, and was not strategic in and of itself. Air Force historian Richard P. Hallion noted, "the book had a profound effect on the American defense establishment".

Colonel Warden was acknowledged as a "catalyst and provocateur" by Air Force Secretary Donald Rice and Lieutenant General Michael Dugan during the significant intellectual and conceptual changes undertaken by the U.S. Air Force in the period 1988–90.

The model that came to mind was Operation El Dorado Canyon, the 1986 American air raid on Libya, in which USAF and Navy aircraft struck Libyan sites in retaliation for Muammar Qaddafi's terrorism. The Commander-in-Chief (CINC) needed something like the Libya raid, on a larger scale".

As a major, Warden arrived at the Pentagon in August 1975. Within the Directorate of Plans, Warden was assigned duties in the Middle East Section, and began his familiarity with that region of the world. This was to culminate in his contributions to the conduct of the First Gulf War.

In 1969, then a captain, Warden volunteered for duty in the Republic of Vietnam. His assignment was to fly the OV-10 Bronco as a Forward Air Controller. Warden participated in 266 combat missions by the time his tour ended. On several occasions, his aircraft was damaged by enemy fire, once very seriously. The North American Aviation newsletter in 1969 reported that it was the most seriously damaged OV-10 that had managed to land safely.

In April 1967, Warden was a member of the 334th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying the F4 Phantom II, when he was first deployed overseas to South Korea in response to the Pueblo incident.

In 1965 (on his twenty-second birthday), he married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie "Margie" Ann Clarke, and on December 5, 1966, became the father of twins, Elizabeth Kathleen, and John Warden IV.

John Ashley Warden III (born December 21, 1943) is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force. Warden is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. His Air Force career spanned 30 years, from 1965 to 1995, and included tours in Vietnam, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Korea, as well as many assignments within the continental United States. Warden completed a number of assignments in the Pentagon, was a Special Assistant for Policy Studies and National Security Affairs to the Vice President of the United States, and was Commandant of the Air Command and Staff College.

John A. Warden III was born in McKinney, Texas in 1943 and was the fourth in his family to pursue a military career. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in National Security Affairs in 1965 from the Air Force Academy and his master's degree from Texas Tech University in 1975, with his thesis focused exclusively on decision-making at the Grand Strategic level.