Wilson's departure may say more about the Trump administration than it does about her.
Share to twitterSecretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson disclosed Friday that she is stepping down to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso, a highly-ranked research university near her home state of New Mexico. Having come to her present position from the presidency of another university, chances are Wilson will return to academia in the midst of the Pentagon's fiscal 2020 budget season.
It's as though Wilson spent her entire life getting ready to be Secretary of the Air Force. And yet less than two years after assuming that position, she has announced her intention to deplane. Pilot, officer, legislator, scholar -- no Secretary of the Air Force has ever been more qualified for the job than Heather Wilson. So why is she leaving after barely two years?Part of the reason is obvious. Wilson repeatedly found herself crosswise with the White House on matters of policy. For instance, she opposed a half-baked idea to fashion a Space Force by separating orbital activities from the rest of the Air Force in a series of new organizations that even now lack a clear rationale.
But beyond the particulars of Heather Wilson's rocky tenure atop the Air Force, many observers will detect a broader pattern in the departure of so many senior people from the Trump administration's initial national security team. It seems that professional credentials and relevant experience don't count for much unless you support the president no matter what he says. There isn't much room for dissent or diversity of ideas.
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