John Earl Hyten (born July 18, 1959) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 11th vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2021.

[5] Hyten then returned to Alabama for a year to serve as a special adviser to the U.S. Army's Kinetic Energy Anti-Satellite Program Office.

[5] He initially wanted to serve for four years but decided to stay after getting the opportunity to work in the space and missile defense program.

He served as mission director in Cheyenne Mountain and was the last active-duty commander of the 6th Space Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

"[13] Hyten has been a strong proponent for developing advanced hypersonic weapons, saying they would enable "responsive, long-range, strike options against distant, defended, and/or time-critical threats [such as road-mobile missiles] when other forces are unavailable, denied access, or not preferred.” [14] In April 2019, Hyten was nominated to be Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[16][17][18][19][20] He assumed duties as the Vice Chairman on November 21, 2019, making him the second highest-ranking military officer in the U.S. Armed Forces.

From February 2, 2019, Hyten also served as the senior designated official of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Cross Functional Team.

[22] It was announced that by the year of 2021 Hyten is expected to retire and would not seek a second-term as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[25] U.S. Navy Adm. Christopher Grady succeeded Hyten as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff upon the confirmation of his nomination to the post by the U.S. Senate on December 16, 2021.

[27] In July 2019, an unnamed senior military officer spoke to the Associated Press accusing Hyten of sexual misconduct in 2017 while she was one of his aides.

The officer claimed that Hyten subjected her to unwanted kissing and touching during the 2017 Reagan National Defense Forum in California and several times during the year she was while working as his aide.

The court martial convening authority, General Mike Holmes, declined to take any action given the lack of supporting evidence concerning the allegations.

[30] On July 30, Hyten appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing for Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, following five closed-door sessions.

No members of the committee supported the accusations in the public hearing, with Senator Martha McSally stating that "sexual assault happens in the military.

It just didn't happen in this case" and that "the full truth was revealed in this process... General Hyten is innocent of these charges.

[32] On June 15, 2022, Blue Origin announced that Hyten will join the company as strategic advisor and executive director for Club for Future and .

[33] In March 2023, he was appointed as special advisor to Thomas Siebel, the chief executive officer of C3.ai, after joining the company's advisory board in June 2022.