Senate confirms Troy Meink, former air crewman and space expert, as the new Air Force secretary

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This article was published 13/05/2025 (210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday easily confirmed Troy Meink as the secretary of the Air Force, putting a former KC-135 tanker aircraft navigator and space expert in charge of the service.

The vote was 74-25.

Meink has almost four decades of experience in the military and in government, including managing some of the nation’s most sensitive satellite intelligence capabilities and the military’s space portfolio.

He previously served as a deputy of the National Reconnaissance Office. While he is the last of the military’s three service secretaries to get confirmed, Meink is the one with the most extensive national security and military experience.

“Your leadership is exactly what we need to refocus the Department of Defense on its core mission—lethality, readiness, and putting the warfighter first,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a social media post.

Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll served a short stint in the Army, but worked largely as a lawyer and investment banker. Navy Secretary John Phelan had been a private investment executive and businessman, and is the first leader of the sea service since 2006 not to have been a veteran.

Meink assumes control of both the Air Force and U.S. Space Force, which was established by President Donald Trump during his first term and just hit its fifth year in existence. And his confirmation comes as the Trump administration is working to reshape the nation’s space capabilities, including the development of the “Golden Dome” missile defense system.

The futuristic system was ordered by Trump during his first week in office. If successful, it would for the first time enable the U.S. to place weapons in space that are meant to destroy ground-based missiles within seconds of launch.

Many countries, including Russia, China, North Korea and the U.S., are developing new ways to disable of defend the tens of thousands of satellites that ring the Earth as a way to cripple a potential adversary without fighting a traditional land-based war.

Meink is from Lemmon, South Dakota, and joined the Air Force as an ROTC cadet at South Dakota State University in 1988. In his previous position at the National Reconnaissance Office, Meink oversaw a more than $15 billion budget to acquire new satellite capabilities.