By Ann Roosevelt
Claude Bolton, assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA[ALT]), has told his staff he plans to resign effective Jan. 2.
Principal deputy Dean Popps will be the acting acquisition chief until a permanent successor is named.
Bolton was sworn-in as the Army’s chief acquisition officer Feb. 1, 2002.
During his tenure he has overseen the development of the service’s major modernization program, the Future Combat Systems. As well, Bolton has overseen the rapid procurement of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected System vehicles now heading to Iraq, as well as the rapid procurement processes speeding equipment to deploying soldiers. Additionally, Bolton has overseen the movement to Life Cycle Management Commands, which manage program development and system sustainment, essentially from cradle to grave.
The ASA(ALT) is the principal adviser to the Army Secretary for all acquisition, logistics, and technology functions of the Army, as the Army acquisition executive, the senior procurement executive, and science adviser.
The ASA(ALT) responsibilities include appointing, managing, and evaluating program executive officers and program managers; managing the Army Acquisition Corps; and overseeing research, development, test, evaluation, and acquisition programs.
Formerly, Bolton commanded the Air Force Security Assistance Center, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, managing foreign military sales programs with totals exceeding $90 billion that support more than 80 foreign countries. As AFMC’s center of excellence for international affairs, his responsibilities also included managing the command’s international cooperative programs and its foreign disclosure policy.
Bolton was commissioned in the Air Force in 1969. A command pilot with more than 2,700 flying hours in more than 30 different aircraft, he flew 232 combat missions during the Vietnam War, including 40 over North Vietnam. A test pilot for the F-4, F-111 and the F-16, he was the first program manager for the Advanced Tactical Fighter Technologies Program, which evolved into the F-22 System Program Office.