(Washington,
DC) – President Donald J. Trump today announced he intends to nominate
the President of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and
former United States Congresswoman Heather
Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Air Force. If confirmed, she will
be the first Air Force Academy graduate to become Secretary of the Air
Force.
Dr.
Wilson has been President of the South Dakota School of Mines &
Technology since 2013 – an engineering and science university that is
one of the best returns on investment for a college
education in America. Wilson has grown enrollment and increased
research at the university while earning a reputation as a sound
financial manager and accessible leader. From 1998 to 2009, Wilson
represented New Mexico in the U.S. Congress, where she was
a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and chaired
the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence. She also
served on the House Armed Services Committee. Before being elected to
the Congress, Wilson ran a large state government
agency in New Mexico.
“Heather
Wilson is going to make an outstanding Secretary of the Air Force,”
said President Trump. “Her distinguished military service, high level of
knowledge, and success in so many different
fields gives me great confidence that she will lead our nation’s Air
Force with the greatest competence and integrity. Our debt to America’s
men and women in uniform is eternal. Their service is an inspiration to
us all and we honor their service and sacrifice.”
“America
and our vital national interests continue to be threatened,” said
Wilson. “I will do my best, working with our men and women in the
military, to strengthen American air and space
power to keep the country safe.”
Wilson
grew up in Keene, NH and was in the third class to include women at the
U.S. Air Force Academy. She graduated in 1982. She earned masters and
doctoral degrees as a Rhodes Scholar at
Oxford University in England. She served as an Air Force officer in
Europe during the Cold War and on the National Security Council Staff
under President George H.W. Bush during the fall of the Berlin Wall and
the collapse of the Warsaw Pact.
The
daughter and granddaughter of aviators, Wilson is an instrument rated
private pilot. Wilson is married to Jay Hone, an attorney and retired
Air Force Colonel.
Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary
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