Major General William T. Cooley is the first-ever Air Force general to face a military trial. A military judge convicted Cooley of one of three instances of abusive sexual contact. They included one instance of forcible kissing and two of forcible touching in 2018. He was only convicted for the kissing. 

Cooley was Special Assistant to the Commander of Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Prior to that, he was commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory. There, Cooley’s responsibilities included managing an Air Force science and technology program worth $2.5 billion and an additional $2.3 billion, which was used for externally funded development and research. 

The Major General was also responsible for leading a nearly 6000-strong government workforce in the nine component technology directorates of the laboratory and the 711th Human Performance Wing.

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Cooley joined the Air Force in 1988, getting in through the ROTC program, after he’d graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, getting a degree in mechanical engineering. The Major General entered active duty in January 1990 after he completed his master’s from the University of New Mexico. He also earned a doctorate of philosophy degree in engineering physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology. 

Colonel Eric Mejia, the staff judge advocate for Air Force Materiel Command, said in a statement after the current ruling “This case clearly demonstrates the commitment of Air Force leaders to fully investigate the facts and hold Airmen of any rank accountable for their actions when they fail to uphold Air Force standards”. 

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During Cooley’s time in the Air Force, he had various technical management, staff, and leadership positions, including commanding at wing and group levels. Among his assignments are Program Executive for Programs and Integration, Missile Defense Agency; Director, GPS Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command; Commander, Phillips Research Site and Materiel Wing Director.