Nuclear Surety Individual of the Year

from AMC

2/5/2014 - Spring 2014 -- Nuclear Surety Individual of the Year

Mr. Thomas E. Thompson
62 AW, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA

Mr. Thomas E. Thompson is the Wing Nuclear Surety Manager for the 62d Airlift Wing, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, where he manages the Nuclear Surety Program for the Department of Defense's only airlift unit authorized to provide transportation of nuclear weapons and critical components.

Mr. Thompson has been a part of the Air Force nuclear enterprise since 1987, first pulling alert as a B-52G aircrew member in the Strategic Air Command, and then as an AMC PNAF-qualified courier and aircraft commander in the C-141B and C-17A. He has been the Wing Nuclear Surety Manager at McChord since 2002, first as an active duty member, then as an Air Force civilian. During his military and civilian career, he has been through 24 NSIs as an inspected unit member or NSI inspector. During the April 2013 Defense Nuclear Surety Inspection, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Team Chief lauded the 62d Airlift Wing's Nuclear Surety Program as the best seen by the DTRA Team in the previous four years.

Mr. Thompson entered the Air Force in 1986, upon graduation from Carnegie Mellon University. He served as an aircrew member on five aircraft and was PRP certified for 16 of his 20 years on active duty. He also served on the AMC Inspector General Team as an inspection planner and inspector. He retired in 2006, beginning his career as an Air Force civilian.