Maj. Gen. Edward Vaughan

Maj. Gen. Edward Vaughan serves as Executive Director, Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. He leads the multi-disciplinary team responsible for driving urgent solutions for our warfighters and partners enabling decisive action and victory. He serves as Executive Secretary for all Department of Defense Senior Integration Groups and is the senior defense official responsible for recommendation of the $750 million Rapid Acquisition Authorities for Joint Urgent and Emergent Operational Needs and interagency Defense Assisted Acquisition initiatives.

Gen. Vaughan completed Reserve Officer Training Corps at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and later earned his commission as top graduate from Air National Guard officer training. He held numerous deployed, command, and staff leadership positions at the squadron, group, wing, and joint task force levels, including command of a flying wing. He has extensive humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and security cooperation, experience, including private sector roles in engineering, technology start-ups, and cross-cultural negotiation.

Gen. Vaughan is a command fighter pilot and polar airlifter with more than 2,700 flying hours, including 205 combat hours fighting in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Southern Watch, and executed over 100 polar ski landings in Operation Deep Freeze. He holds a master’s degree from Air War College, where he was a fellow and later faculty with the Blue Horizons futures program. He was the first Reserve officer inducted in the U.S. Air Force Safety Hall of Fame for creating the Disruptive Solutions Process.