Troy Meink, the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, listens to a briefing at Schriever Space Force Base, Colo., in 2022. Meink was nominated Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next Air Force secretary. (Tiana Williams/U.S. Space Force)
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Troy Meink, an Air Force veteran and the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, to serve as the next Air Force secretary.
“Troy will work with our incredible secretary of defense nominee, Pete Hegseth, to ensure that our nation’s Air Force is the most effective and deadly force in the world, as we secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump said Thursday on Truth Social.
Meink, who is from Lemmon, S.D., entered the Air Force in 1988 through the ROTC program at South Dakota State University. He began his military career as a KC-135 tanker navigator and instructor before leaving active-duty service in 1993. He completed eight combat missions and 29 combat support missions during the Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Provide Comfort operations, according to his old Air Force profile.
He then spent much of his career as an Air Force civilian worker in various jobs in space operations, including as deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space.
Meink was appointed to his current job at the NRO in October 2020. The intelligence agency is part of the Defense Department that works closely with Space Force. He also worked as the NRO director of geospatial intelligence systems acquisition, overseeing a budget of more than $15 billion.
Selecting Meink could signal space operations will be a focus during the Trump administration. Trump championed the creation of Space Force during his first term, and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk is a close adviser to the president-elect.
Selecting Meink completes Trump’s picks for the service secretaries. He previously announced John Phelan, a businessman and mega donor, for Navy secretary, and Daniel Driscoll, a former Army veteran who has been serving as a senior adviser for Vice President-elect JD Vance, to lead the Army.
Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News host, had his confirmation hearing earlier this week to be the next defense secretary.
Trump has also chosen billionaire financier Stephen Feinberg to be deputy defense secretary and Elbridge “Bridge” Colby to be undersecretary for policy at the Defense Department.
