Maj Gen Steve “Bucky” Butow

Maj Gen Steve “Bucky” Butow, USAF Maj Gen Steve “Bucky” Butow is the Military Deputy of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Office of the Secretary of Defense. He joined DIU in 2015 as an early member when the organization was known as the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx). He initially served as the West Coast Military Lead, helping establish DIU’s operating locations in Silicon Valley, Boston, and Austin. In 2016, he was selected as DIU’s first Space Portfolio Director. General Butow also serves as the Commander of the California Air National Guard, where he leads 4,900 Airmen across five wings and a headquarters staff conducting air, space, and cyber operations as part of the Total Air Force. He has logged more than 3,500 flying hours in the T-37, T-38, C-130, HC-130, and MC-130P aircraft. He earned a B.A. in Physics & Astronomy from San Jose State University and an M.S. in Management with specialization in Air and Space Strategic Studies from the University of Maryland. He has also completed executive programs at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and was a member of Harvard’s National Leadership Preparedness Initiative (NPLI) Cohort 16. He is a lifetime member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for academic achievement. Earlier in his career, General Butow worked as a researcher with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, contributing to instrument concepts for Mars surface soil analysis at NASA Ames Research Center. He later served as co-principal investigator for a series of airborne science missions, earning recognition for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Space Science Division (1999) and an Ames Honor Award (2000) as part of an Astrobiology Mission Project Team.