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Air Force

Trump nominates frmr. Aerospace chair as new Air Force secretary

From left: Spaceflight Participant Guy Laliberté, Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev, Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Jeffrey N. Williams, Backup Spaceflight Participant Barbara Barrett, backup Expedition 21 Commander Aleksandr Skvortsov, and backup Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Shannon Walker pose for a group photograph at the end of a press conference, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Williams, Suraev and Laliberté are scheduled to launch onboard a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
May 22, 2019

President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Barbara Barrett, a former diplomat and Aerospace Corporation chair, as the new Air Force secretary.

“I am pleased to announce my nomination of Barbara Barrett of Arizona, and former Chairman of the Aerospace Corporation, to be the next Secretary of the Air Force. She will be an outstanding Secretary! #FlyFightWin,” Trump tweeted.

Barrett was named U.S. Ambassador to Finland in 2008 and served until 2010. She then served as chair of Aerospace from 2013 to 2017.

Additionally, she has served as vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and as deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Other boards she has been on include Raytheon, the Space Foundation and Piper Aircraft.

Barrett is trained as an instrument-rated pilot. She trained at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and also in Kazakhstan. She received a certification for space travel.

Her undergraduate, master’s and law degrees were earned at Arizona State University.

She has received honorary doctorate degrees from several universities, as well.

Barrett will replace Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who will depart the post on May 31 to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso this September.

The position of Acting Secretary will be filled by Air Force Undersecretary Matt Donovan, per acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.