Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson is resigning

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Friday she is resigning to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso.

A former US House Republican member from New Mexico and graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Wilson has headed the Air Force since May 2017, making her President Donald Trump's first Senate-confirmed service secretary.

She had been an early sceptic of Trump's interest in creating a Space Force as an independent military department, but she publicly embraced the administration's proposal to Congress last month that would establish a Space Force as a separate service within the Department of the Air Force.

Wilson also had been mentioned as a potential successor to Jim Mattis as defense secretary. After Mattis announced his resignation in late December, Trump named the former deputy defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, as acting defense secretary. But Trump has not yet nominated anyone for confirmation by the Senate.

In her resignation letter to Trump, Wilson said the University of Texas Board of Regents announced on Friday that she is the sole finalist to become the university's next president, effective September 1.

"Under Texas law, my name will be public for three weeks before the regents take a final vote on my appointment," she wrote.

"Upon a favourable vote by the regents, I will resign my position as secretary of the Air Force effective May 31, 2019," she wrote. "This should allow sufficient time for a smooth transition and ensure advocacy during upcoming congressional hearings."
"We have improved the readiness of the force; we have cut years out of acquisition schedules and gotten better prices through competition; we have repealed hundreds of superfluous regulations; and we have strengthened our ability to deter and dominate in space."