President Obama nominated Maj. Gen. William Bender for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general for assignment as the Air Force’s chief of information dominance and chief information officer, announced the Pentagon on June 10. Bender has been deputy chief of the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq in Baghdad since July 2013. If the Senate approves Bender’s nomination, he would replace Lt. Gen. Michael Basla, who has held these positions on the Air Force Secretariat since June 2012.
The Air Force budget would grow to $234 billion while Space Force spending would shrink to $26 billion under the White House's yearly ask.