President Trump on Jan. 17 announced he would nominate former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier to be the next Air Force under secretary.
“Matthew will work with the GREAT Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to end the devastating ‘woke’ policies that have destroyed our Military, and make our Country STRONG AGAIN,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, his social media site.
If confirmed by the Senate, Lohmeier would become the service’s No. 2 civilian and would serve alongside Troy Meink, Trump’s pick for Air Force secretary.
Lohmeier was relieved of his command duties in 2021 after self-publishing a book and subsequently speaking on a podcast alleging Marxism was spreading across the military. The former commander of 11th Space Warning Squadron also criticized the Pentagon’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and other initiatives while speaking on the podcast.
Then-Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting removed Lohmeier from his post due to a loss in confidence in his ability to lead, the Space Force said at the time. Now Whiting is the four-star general head of U.S. Space Command, potentially putting the two at odds once again.
Lohmeier graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2006 and began his active-duty career as a T-38 Talon instructor pilot and an F-15C Eagle fighter pilot before shifting his focus to space-based missile warning at the stand up of the Space Force.