Off the wire
• Brazil's Temer congratulates Macron on winning French elections  • Urgent: Explosion kills senior religious official in Afghan province  • Mosquito-borne diseases plummet 88.9 pct in Brazil  • Indian markets open flat  • 16 detained over south China drug manufacturing case  • China extends anti-dumping duties on imported rubber for 5 years  • Tokyo stocks edge lower in morning as investors sell to secure gains  • China's winter sports enter golden era as Beijing 2022 takes shape  • Chapecoense return to scene of air crash  • Mexico, EU to wrap up new free trade negotiations by end of 2017  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. Congress confirms Air Force Secretary nominee

Xinhua, May 9, 2017 Adjust font size:

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Heather Wilson as Air Force Secretary, the first service secretary nominee to be approved by Congress.

The upper chamber of Congress voted 76 to 22 to hand the rein of the U.S. Air Force to Wilson, who was a former House member representing the state of New Mexico.

Wilson, 56, graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1982 and obtained a doctorate in the University of Oxford, after which she served in the U.S. Air Force for seven years.

Wilson was appointed to the National Security Council in 1989 under the senior Bush administration and after an intermediate period in the private sector, she was elected to the House of Representatives.

Wilson was the first female military veteran elected to a full term in Congress.

The position of Air Force Secretary was the first of three service secretary jobs that is filled, with Trump's nominees for the Army and the Navy facing substantial objection from the Senate.

Mark Green, Trump's second choice for Army Secretary, dropped his bid last week after his anti-minority remarks came to light.

Trump's first pick for Army Secretary, Vincent Viola, gave up his nomination in February due to financial entanglements, three weeks before Phillip Bilden, the Navy Secretary nominee suffered the same fate. Endi