Bruce A. Carlson

Bruce A. Carlson is an emeritus General Authority and served as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy from April 4, 2009, to October 3, 2015. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a ward Sunday School teacher and as a member of the Military Advisory Committee.

Carlson was born on October 3, 1949, in Hibbing, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor’s degree the University of Minnesota. In 1979, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base. A year later he received his master’s degree from Webster University. In 1989 he received a distinguished graduate MA degree from the U.S. Naval War College. He was commissioned in 1971 and retired as a General in 2009. He was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama as the sixteenth Director of the National Reconnaissance Office. He resigned from that post on July 20, 2012. His additional commands included the Air Force’s 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, and 6th Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

His service in the Church has included elders quorum president, bishop, high councilor, and temple ordinance worker. He and his wife, Vicki, are the parents of three children.