Meink, 27th Secretary, Gets to Work
Air Force vet brings deep space experience.
By Chris Gordon and Rachel Cohen
Troy E. Meink was sworn in as Secretary of the Air Force May 16, a career civil servant who brings extensive experience in space intelligence to the helm of the Air Force and Space Force.
A former KC-135 navigator, Meink spent the past four years as the No. 2 civilian at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a space intelligence agency that works closely with the Space Force.
“I am looking forward to leading such an amazing team—the most talented, professional, and capable air and space professionals the world has ever seen,” Meink said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Meink became principal deputy director at the NRO during the first Trump administration, overseeing billions of dollars in satellite acquisitions; he previously was deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space during the Obama administration. Meink was a KC-135 tanker navigator from 1988 to 1993 before switching into space technology.
In his first major address after becoming Secretary, Meink told members of the Air Force Academy graduating Class of 2025 that the Air Force and Space Force are in the midst of a transition that will demand tenacity and innovation from even the services’ newest officers. The challenge before them is China’s quest for dominance in the Pacific, as the U.S. military presses to counter the rapid growth and modernization of China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
“The Indo-Pacific will be your generation’s fight,” Meink said. “You will deliver the most lethal force that this nation has ever existed, or we will not succeed.”
Modernizing the Air Force will be a central focus for the new Secretary, but securing the space domain could be his greatest challenge. The Department of the Air Force is reorienting its budget toward the Trump administration’s priorities, especially his Golden Dome missile defense initiative, which calls for more advanced space tracking, interceptors, and lightning-fast data transfer.
Space Force leaders have said they need more resources and manpower to keep up with their growing mission portfolio. President Donald Trump is seen as friendly to the Space Force, having championed its establishment in his first term, and Meink is the most space-experienced senior leader in the Pentagon.
AFA President & CEO Lt. Gen. Burt Field, USAF (Ret.), congratulated the new Secretary. “The Air & Space Forces Association wishes you massive success as you take on the thorny issues facing our Space Force and Air Force,” he said. “We look forward to helping you wherever or whenever we can to ensure our Guardians and Airmen are able to dominate every future fight.”
During his confirmation hearing in March, Meink said the Air Force is “probably too small, both on the fighter and the bomber side of the house.”
He expressed concern about the challenges posed by U.S. rivals. “First, near-peer competitors such as China are evolving faster than we are in some cases, which will eventually result in the U.S. losing our technological advantage,” Meink said during his confirmation hearing. “Second, some competitors, such as Russia, are fielding highly escalatory asymmetric capabilities. And third, our homeland is increasingly put on the defensive from threats such as cyberattack, unmanned aerial systems, and illegal activities at the border, including illicit drug trafficking.”