U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who was considered a top candidate to b...
WASHINGTON - U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who was considered a top candidate to become the next secretary of defense, said on Friday she has decided to resign and return to academia, leaving another vacant post at the top level of the Pentagon.
Like Mattis, Wilson was a staunch advocate of alliances like NATO and firmly supported Mattis’ push to refocus the U.S. military on higher-end competition with China and Russia after more than a decade-and-a-half of counterinsurgency campaigns. “It has been a privilege to serve alongside our Airmen over the past two years and I am proud of the progress that we have made in restoring our nation’s defenses,” Wilson, 58, said in her resignation letter to Trump.
“Everyone she has talked to wants her to stay, but she thinks the time is right to take on this new challenge,” a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official added Wilson was not resigning under pressure and had not been asked to step down. Wilson was the first Air Force Academy graduate to ever take the highest position in her service, and counted a robust resume that included a decade as a Republican lawmaker in Congress. She also served on the National Security Council staff during the George H. W. Bush administration, and as president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
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