Wilson, a Rhodes Scholar who studied at Oxford University, is president of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
“America and our vital national interests continue to be threatened,” Wilson said in a White House released statement. “I will do my best, working with our men and women in the military, to strengthen American air and space power to keep the country safe.”
She was the first female veteran elected to a full term in Congress.
While in Congress, Wilson, 56, was a member of the House Armed Services Committee. The New Hampshire native was chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence and a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the White House said.
Michael Gessel, Dayton Development Coalition vice president of federal programs, said Wilson would bring “a deep understanding” of the military branch as the first Air Force Academy graduate to fill the top civilian leadership position.
He noted her former New Mexico congressional district included Kirtland Air Force Base, home to a division of the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Her familiarity with science and technology bodes well for the Miami Vallet region and her congressional experience could boost ties between the Air Force and Congress, Gessel said in an email.
Under the administration of former President George H.W. Bush, Wilson was a National Security Council staff member.
“Her distinguished military service, high level of knowledge, and success in so many different fields gives me great confidence that she will lead our nation’s Air Force with the greatest competence and integrity,” Trump said in a statement.
She would replace Deborah Lee James who left the post Friday with the transition in presidential administrations.
In Congress, Wilson was seen as a staunch conservative, but broke with her party on a few occasions, such as when she criticized then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2004 about the damage caused by the scandal in which U.S. soldiers were depicted abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
“I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of this hearing today or of the military and the Defense Department’s response to what has been uncovered for how American will be perceived for the next 20 years,” Wilson said at the time, comparing the damage the case would cause to the mass killing of civilians by U.S. troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai in 1968.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, served with Wilson in Congress and said in a statement “her service as secretary of the Air Force will benefit our nation and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as she leads the effort to modernize our Air Force.”
Turner is chairman of the Housed Armed Forces Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee.
After a second failed bid for the Senate, Wilson told the Roll Call newspaper in a 2013 interview she was likely finished with campaigning for elected office.
Like several of Trump’s other nominees, Wilson has ties to private industry, including defense firms. She has been a senior adviser to several companies, including Battelle, Sandia, Los Alamos, the Nevada Test Site and Oak Ridge Laboratories. After leaving the military, she founded Keystone International, which focuses on organizational development, project management and technical support services.
The Washington Post contributed to this story.
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