Senate confirms Trump s Air Force Secretary pick

Washington May 9 (IANS) The US Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump s pick Heather Wilson as Air Force Secretary officials said.

The former Republican House of Representatives member was confirmed on Monday after a 76-22 vote Xinhua news agency reported.

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

She was appointed to the National Security Council in 1989 under former President George H. W. Bush 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 to be 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 withdrew in February due to financial entanglements three weeks before Phillip Bilden the Navy Secretary nominee suffered the same fate.

--IANS
ksk/bg