Lt. Gen. James Dawkins Jr. is Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. The general is responsible to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force for focus on Nuclear Deterrence Operations. He provides direction, guidance, integration and advocacy regarding the nuclear deterrence mission of the U.S. Air Force and engages with joint and interagency partners for nuclear enterprise solutions.

Lt. Gen. Dawkins was commissioned in 1989. He has held a variety of operational and staff assignments, including command of Eighth Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana; the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, North Dakota; the 509th Operations Group at Whiteman AFB, Missouri; and the 338th Combat Training Squadron, an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance training squadron at Offutt AFB, Nebraska. His staff assignments include positions at the Joint Staff, U.S. Strategic Command, Headquarters International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, the Department of Energy and the National Security Council. Prior to his current assignment, he served as Director, Global Power Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, at the Pentagon.

Lt. Gen. Dawkins Jr. is a command pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours in fighter, reconnaissance and bomber aircraft.