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A senior official with the National Reconnaissance Office, a Defense Department intelligence agency that works closely with the Space Force, is President Donald Trump’s choice to become the next secretary of the Air Force.
If confirmed by the Senate, Troy E. Meink, the NRO's principal deputy director, would succeed former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who stepped down Monday with most other Biden administration officials.
"Troy will work with our incredible Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to ensure that our Nation’s Air Force is the most effective and deadly force in the World, as we secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH," Trump wrote Jan. 16 on Truth Social, his online platform.
In the interim, Gary Ashworth, an Air Force veteran who was the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for acquisition, will serve as acting Air Force secretary, the White House announced yesterday.
Meink served in his current position after being appointed during Trump's previous administration in 2020.
He spent much of the last two decades at the NRO. He left the agency for several months in 2013 and 2014 to serve as deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space.
Trump’s choice to lead the Air Force also has five years in uniform, entering the service in 1988 through the ROTC program at South Dakota State University.
Meink was a KC-135 Stratotanker navigator and instructor and then a lead test engineer for the design and evaluation of ballistic missile test vehicles for the Missile Defense Agency.
As a rated officer, he completed 100 sorties, including eight combat and 29 combat support missions in support of operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Provide Comfort, according to his Air Force bio.
Meink also holds master’s and doctoral degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Ohio State University. He has also been awarded three patents and designed, built and flown two experimental aircraft.
If confirmed, Meink would take over an Air Force struggling to find the resources to recapitalize its aging aircraft fleet. This includes the Air National Guard, which operates some of the oldest aircraft in the service's inventory.
The Space Force also faces challenges, notably its precise role in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from space and what to do with the essential functions currently performed by the Air Guard's space professionals.
Meink's selection rounds out Trump’s picks for service secretaries.
Trump previously named Daniel P. Driscoll, an Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate, to lead the Army. Driscoll has been a senior advisor to Vice President J.D. Vance, a fellow Yale Law grad.
— By John Goheen
