President Donald Trump on March 21 formally submitted his nomination of Heather Wilson to become the next Air Force secretary after he announced his intention in late January.
Wilson has served as president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology since 2013. If confirmed, she will become the first Air Force Academy graduate to become the service’s top civilian.
Wilson was subject to an Energy Department inspector general probe in 2013 that found she earned $450,000 from facility contractors without providing evidence that work was performed.
The department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) asked DOE IG to review whether a consulting agreement between the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the former New Mexico congresswoman’s consulting firm, Heather Wilson and Company LLC (HWC), was appropriately administered and managed. Specifically, DOE IG was asked to determine whether work products were produced in return for monthly payments to HWC of $10,000 and whether invoices included itemized charges, as required from the government.
The DOE IG was also tasked to investigate whether there was overlap between the services provided and work products produced by HWC on consulting agreements awarded by Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Nevada National Security Site; and if a NNSA contracting officer was subjected to “pressure” when Los Alamos National Security LLC, the management and operating contractor for Los Alamos, requested authorization to enter into an agreement with HWC.
Defense News reported Wilson could have her nomination hearing as early as this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee did not return requests for comment by press time Friday.
