President Bush on April 25 nominated Sue Payton, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts, to become the Air Force’s top acquisition official. The post has been vacant since the resignation of Marvin Sambur in January 2005. Payton has previous Pentagon experience, serving as acting director of defense research and engineering, and worked for defense contractors Martin Marietta and Lockheed Martin. She has a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University and a master’s from the University of Southern California.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
