United States Air Force Raymond was commissioned in the Air Force in 1984 as a second lieutenant following his graduation from Clemson University. The following year, he was assigned to the
321st Strategic Missile Wing as a
missile combat crew commander at
Grand Forks Air Force Base. From 1989 to 1993, Raymond was an operations center officer controller with the
1st Strategic Aerospace Division and executive officer of the
30th Space Wing at
Vandenberg Air Force Base. In 1993, he was assigned to
Air Force Space Command as chief of commercial space lift operations and assistant chief of current operations and, in 1996, as deputy director for commander-in-chief's action group. He replaced Lieutenant General
Susan Helms who was retiring after her failed nomination as Air Force Space Command vice commander. He relinquished command to Lieutenant General
David J. Buck on August 14, 2015, to return to the Pentagon and serve as the
deputy chief of staff for operations of the U.S. Air Force. Raymond was nominated for promotion to the rank of general and to the command of
Air Force Space Command on September 8, 2016. This nomination was confirmed by the
United States Senate on September 15. He assumed command of the Air Force Space Command on October 27, 2016, replacing
John E. Hyten who was then tapped to become the commander of
United States Strategic Command. On December 1, 2017, the Joint Functional Component Command for Space was restructured as the Joint Force Space Component Command and Raymond was dual-hatted as commander of the newly reorganized unit under U.S. Strategic Command.
United States Space Command ceremony establishing of the
U.S. Space Command, August 29, 2019 By 2018, plans were made to reestablish the
United States Space Command and Raymond was tasked to plan for its standup. He asked five planners to help him plan such standup, including U.S. Army Brigadier General
Thomas L. James and U.S. Air Force Brigadier General
Shawn Bratton, and then-Brigadier General
David N. Miller to lead a task force that did the detailed planning. On March 22, 2019, he was nominated to lead that unified combatant command, and was then confirmed by the
United States Senate on June 27. He assumed command of the newly reestablished U.S. Space Command on August 29, 2019, while retaining command of Air Force Space Command. Raymond is a proponent for declassifying space capabilities and intelligence as a way for deterring adversaries opening more dialogue about space threats. Along with Admiral
Philip S. Davidson and seven other combatant commanders, he signed a memo—called informally as the "36-star memo"—addressed to the
United States Intelligence Community that called for declassifying space-related
intelligence. In February 2020, Raymond called out Russia for "threatening behavior" in outer space, threatening a U.S. national security satellite. This was the first time the U.S. military has publicly identified a direct threat to a specific American satellite by an adversary. While being the chief of the new military service, he continued serving as commander of the U.S. Space Command until August 20, 2020, when he relinquished command to his deputy, General
James H. Dickinson. The
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which also created the Space Force, included a provision which allowed the chief of space operations to concurrently serve as commander of the combatant command for one year.
United States Space Force Donald Trump's hand after being named as the first
chief of space operations, December 20, 2019. When the creation of the Space Force or space corps was debated, Raymond initially did not support the idea of creating a separate space corps. In 2017, he wrote in a
Defense One article that while he applauded the increased focus on space as a warfighting domain, what is needed instead is deeper integration and more resources. By April 2019, he reversed his position, supporting the Trump administration's proposal to establish the Space Force under the Department of the Air Force. , January 14, 2020 On December 20, 2019, the U.S. Space Force was established by redesignating the Air Force Space Command as a separate service. Raymond, then commander of Air Force Space Command, was appointed as the first
chief of space operations. According to President
Donald Trump, "With today's signing I will proudly appoint Gen. Jay Raymond the first chief of space operations and he will become the very first member of the Space Force and he will be on the
Joint Chiefs." By becoming the first member of the Space Force, he left the Air Force after over 35 years of military service. He was officially sworn in by Vice President
Mike Pence on January 14, 2020. In November 2020, Raymond released the ''Chief of Space Operations' Planning Guidance'' where he outlined his five priorities as the service chief of the Space Force: building a lean and agile service, developing joint warfighters, delivering new capabilities, expand international cooperation, and creating a digital service. He also ordered the creation of the
Space Warfighting Analysis Center and
National Space Intelligence Center. The law that created the Space Force stated that the chief of space operations will become a member of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff only a year after its enactment, but Raymond was allowed to join the Joint Chiefs immediately because then-
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley viewed it important to national security. In December 2020, Raymond became an official member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his office becoming the 8th member of the Joint Chiefs. Together with other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Raymond denounced the
2021 United States Capitol attack. Raymond, and almost all the other Joint Chiefs of Staff members, went into quarantine in October 2020 after coming into contact with Admiral
Charles Ray, who tested positive for
COVID-19. Raymond pushes for international norms of behavior for the space domain. Without those norms of behavior, he likened space as the "Wild, Wild West." This "rules of the road" for space is what he wants to pass on to his successors. In November 2021, he wrote an
opinion piece for
the Washington Post, detailing what the Space Force is doing to establish international norms and standards of behavior in space. On November 2, 2022, Raymond transferred responsibility as chief of space operations to
B. Chance Saltzman. During the ceremony, Secretary
Frank Kendall III called Raymond the "father of the Space Force". He retired from active duty on January 1, 2023, after 38 years of service. ==Civilian career==