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Trump names pick for Air Force secretary

President-elect Trump on Thursday nominated Troy Meink, a former missile engineer and top spy, to be secretary of the Air Force.

Trump said in a statement posted on Truth Social that Meinck will work with Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to “ensure peace through force while ensuring that our Air Force is the most effective and lethal force in the world.” He said he would work to make the team a united force.

Meink is the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the intelligence agency responsible for building and maintaining the United States' reconnaissance satellites.

He has held the position since 2020, during President Trump's first term. Meink was first appointed as the NRO's Director of Geospatial Information Systems Acquisition in 2017 during the Trump administration's first term.

A native of Lemmon, South Dakota, Meinke joined the Air Force in 1988 through the University Program in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), where he became a navigator on a KC-135 tanker and later became a ballistic missile test chief at the Missile Defense Agency. Became a test engineer.

Mr. Meink has previously served as the Air Force's Under Secretary of State for Space, Director of Systems and Resources Analysis in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Executive Agent for the Space Staff and Assistant Director of National Intelligence.

If confirmed by the Senate, Meink will oversee key Air Force programs, including the Sentinel program to modernize the ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile system. Although the program's costs have ballooned, the Air Force considers it a national security priority.

The Air Force is also working on significant programs for artificially intelligent drones and next-generation aircraft.

President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, led by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk, is also looking to drastically reduce waste at the Pentagon. Musk specifically called out the F-35 fighter jet program.

President Trump nominated businessman John Phelan to serve in the Navy in November.

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