President Trump’s nominee for Air Force secretary appeared March 30 before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Heather Wilson, a former Republican congresswoman from New Mexico and Air Force Academy graduate, is the president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Despite coming under fire about her work for government nuclear labs, members of the committee generally voiced support for Wilson, signaling that she will ultimately be confirmed.
If confirmed, Wilson has a daunting task ahead of her as she takes the helm of an Air Force that is busy around the world, stretched by an aging fleet and critical shortfalls of key personnel, and plagued by morale and quality-of-life challenges.
If Wilson comes on board as Air Force secretary, here’s what should be at the top of her to-do list.
Manning, manning, manning.
Wilson must push Congress for the money the Air Force needs to get to an eventual end strength of 350,000 airmen in the active force.
The force this year is slated to grow for the second year in a row, adding 4,000 more airmen for an end strength of up to 321,000 by Sept. 30. The growth is much needed, and it comes after senior Air Force leaders for months sounded the alarm that the service was already stretched thin and overburdened.
Work on the pilot and maintainer shortages.
The force is short 1,555 pilots — 1,211 of them fighter pilots. Among maintainers, the Air Force has 3,281 vacancies.
The shortfalls in these critical — and connected — fields have far-reaching effects across the force.
And officials are trying everything they can — from offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash incentives to eliminating unnecessary tasks and extra duties — to keep the airmen they have.
Support Gen. Dave Goldfein's squadron overhaul.
Revitalizing the more than 3,400 squadrons — which range from 40 to 1,400 airmen each — is one of the Air Force chief of staff’s top priorities.
The Air Force’s mission rides on getting the squadron structure right, Goldfein has said, because that’s where new airmen first learn the service’s culture and where airmen and their families thrive.
Fixing squadrons will go a long way to improving morale in the ranks.
Get another round of BRAC.
Wilson should push — and push hard — for another round of Base Realignment and Closure. The Air Force is 25 percent over capacity in infrastructure, and service leaders have been begging for another round of BRAC for years. It’s a logical way to cut government waste — even though no lawmaker wants to see an installation in his or her district go away.
Push for the end of sequestration.
Speaking of resources, the automatic spending cuts need to go.
Air Force leaders have repeatedly said the cuts have sapped resources and impacted Air Force readiness. And operating on a continuing resolution year after year hasn’t helped.
Wilson, who was in Congress from 1998 to 2009, should leverage her relationships on Capitol Hill to fight for steady, predictable funding for the Air Force.
