Why the US Air Force’s Chief Security Officer Resigned: DevSecOps Hurdles Revealed

Recently, Nicolas Chaillan, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the US Air Force, announced his resignation, describing the role as the most challenging and infuriating job of his career.

Chaillan, who assumed the US Air Force CSO position in May 2019 after serving at the Department of Defense where he promoted DevSecOps practices, condemned senior Air Force leadership for not prioritizing IT system security, citing a lack of response and policy consistency as key reasons for his departure.

Although Chaillan successfully introduced DevSecOps in parts of the DoD, he encountered institutional inertia when attempting to scale the practice within larger projects. He noted that regardless of seniority or expertise, senior officers are assigned to manage defense procurement projects, often with fixed two‑year terms, leading to costly and inefficient outcomes for initiatives requiring longer timelines.

Chaillan also criticized the Air Force for still using outdated “waterfall‑agile‑procurement” principles for services and talent acquisition, and expressed disappointment that the Joint All‑Domain Command and Control (JADC2) project failed to secure the necessary multi‑million‑dollar funding in the FY2022 budget.