Senate leaders offer support for Air Force secretary nominee Wilson during confirmation hearing

Senate leaders praised the qualifications of Heather Wilson to serve as secretary of the Air Force in the Trump Administration during a confirmation hearing last week.

Wilson currently leads the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and is a former U.S. congresswoman having represented New Mexico from 1998 to 2009. If confirmed, she will be the first Air Force Academy graduate to become secretary of the Air Force.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during the hearing that Wilson, the president of the School of Mines since 2013, has served in “outstanding fashion” as leader of one of the most highly rated engineering and science universities in the country.

“Under her leadership, the School of Mines added new programs, expanded research, raised funds to build and refurbish buildings, started an honors program and deepened the connections between the school and the community,” Rounds said. “People who work with her in South Dakota describe her as a great manager and inspiring leader, and a tireless advocate for the school and her students.”

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who has known Wilson for more than 20 years, said in his introduction that “President Trump could not have selected a more qualified candidate to lead the Air Force in these challenging times.”

“Heather served as an Air Force officer in Europe during the Cold War, in the United Kingdom, and at the U.S. mission to NATO and Brussels,” Thune said. “Upon leaving the Air Force she served on the National Security Council staff for President George H.W. Bush working on NATO and conventional arms control.”

Thune noted that Wilson also served in Congress for a decade, where she became “one of the go-to members on national security issues.”

“Heather wasn’t afraid to take on tough issues ranging from oversight of the president’s terrorist surveillance program that led to the reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or sexual assault at the Air Force Academy,” Thune said. “In a town where whoever speaks the loudest often gets heard, people would get quiet when Heather spoke because they knew that she had ideas that were worth listening to.”

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during his opening statement at the hearing that the next secretary would lead the Air Force in confronting a “diverse and complex array of global crises” that have not be seen since the end of World War II.

Despite threats of terrorism and instability from North Africa to the Middle East to South Asia and the advanced potential of adversaries like China and Russia, McCain added, the Air Force is “the oldest, smallest and least ready in its history.”

“Twenty-five years of continuous deployments, troubled acquisition programs, and frequent aircraft divestments have aged and shrunk the Air Force’s inventory,’ McCain said. “The combination of relentless operational tempo and the self-inflicted wounds of the Budget Control Act and sequestration has depleted readiness.”

Restoring readiness, recapitalizing combat and aircraft fleet, and modernizing to sustain U.S. overmatch will require strong leadership of the next secretary of the Air Force, McCain added.