Secretary of the Air Force

Dr. Troy Meink

Responsibilities

• The new Secretary of the Air Force eased through his Senate confirmation with a 74-25 vote of approval. Meink oversees the training, organization and equipping of nearly 680,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian airmen and Guardians, and their families. In support of global military operations, he steers an annual budget of more than $200 billion.
• The Department of the Air Force is, by Meink’s own account, “building and operating some of the most complex systems ever fielded in both air and space.” He added that “we need not only the right number of airmen and Guardians, but also, need the right skills, training, support and focus to deliver and operate those systems.” 
• Meink joins Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, and US Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, as officials leading the Department of the Air Force. 

Quote 

“We are treating space like the contested environment that it is, by inserting resilience and space superiority into every aspect of our overhead architecture. We are building the stealthiest and most lethal airborne platforms in history. We are building low-cost drones. And we are building the sensors and battle network to stitch it all together,” Meink said in a commencement speech to the US Air Force Academy graduating Class of 2025.

Priorities

• Develop “a more robust missile defense shield and the F-47 fighter.” 
• Increase competition and expand the industrial base. 
• Invest in space control and counter-space systems.
• Ensure that technological priorities are clearly in focus to meet threats.

Military/Civil Service 

• Meink’s career trajectory runs across multiple agencies and over a host of programs, and includes military training, R&D, systems engineering, and managing stealth projects/programs. 
• Most recently, Meink held the No. 2 position at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), serving as its principal deputy director from 2020 to 2025. The NRO is tasked with building and maintaining spy satellites.
• Director, Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2020. Responsible for geospatial intelligence produced by the nation’s defense satellites, NGA has a budget of more than $15 billion.
• Assistant Director in the Office of Systems and Resource Analyses, whose mission is to assist the Director of National Intelligence in shaping intelligence capabilities. Served from 2014 to 2017.

• Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space; and Director, Executive Agent for Space Staff, at the Pentagon, from 2013 to 2014.
• Director, Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition, NRO, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for Space and Technology, from 2008 to 2013.
• Director, Communications Directorate, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Networks and Information Integration), from 2006 to 2008.
• Program Director, Transformational Satellite Communications Systems, Military Satellite Communications Joint Program Office, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, from 2003 to 2006.
• Director, Military Satellite Communications Innovations Center, Space and Missile  Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, from 2002 to 2003.

• Chief Technical Adviser, Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, from 2001 to 2002.
• Program Manager and Senior Research Engineer, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, from 1994 to 2001. 
• Flight Test Engineer and Deputy Program Manager (Air Force Reserve), National Air Intelligence Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, from 1994 to 1998.
• Between 1988 and 1993, Meink was an Air Force Navigator and Instructor Navigator, Grissom AFB, becoming a lead test engineer for the design and evaluation of ballistic missile test vehicles for the Missile Defense Agency. 
• Entered the Air Force in 1988 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program. By the end of his service, Meink had completed 100 sorties, including 8 combat and 29 combat support missions in operations such as Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Provide Comfort. For his contributions, he received several honors, including the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, and the Department of the Air Force Invention Award.

Education

• Ohio State University – Doctorate in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1999.
• Ohio State University – MS of Science, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1995. 
• South Dakota State University  – BS of Science, and Mechanical Engineering in 1988. 

Personal

Troy Edward Meink grew up in Lemmon, SD. A designer by nature, he designed, built, and flew his own airplane while attending university. It was there he met and married Jean, a fellow student. She and their two children attended Meink’s confirmation hearing.