The Senate voted 85-7 Wednesday to confirm Barbara Barrett, former chairwoman of The Aerospace Corp., as the new secretary of the Air Force, the service branch reported.
She succeeds 2019 Wash100 award winner Heather Wilson, who stepped down in May to join the University of Texas at El Paso as president. Her confirmation came five months after she was nominated for the position.
Barrett expressed support to the service branch’s priorities during her confirmation hearing in September before the Senate Armed Services Committee, including the expansion of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft fleet, creation of the Space Force and modernization of the country’s nuclear capability.
She is former U.S. ambassador to Finland and served as a senior official at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Related Articles
The U.S. Army has signed new rapid prototype other transactional authority, also known as OTA, agreements with General Dynamics Mission Systems and Pacific Defense to build a chassis that would enable soldiers to plug and play capabilities into military vehicles. Plug-and-Play Capabilities The technology is dubbed CMFF, which is short for Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards Mounted Form Factor. It offers both hardware and software designed to converge multiple legacy systems into one chassis in ground and aviation platforms. CMFF is equipped with power, networks and radio frequency to support
The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre, in partnership with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and other international partners, has published new joint guidance aimed at helping organizations secure their operational technology environments. The document, titled “Creating and Maintaining a Definitive View of Your Operational Technology Architecture,” builds on the recent Foundations for OT Cybersecurity: Asset Inventory Guidance and provides actionable steps to strengthen defenses against cyberthreats, CISA said. CISA is a DHS agency. Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Homeland Security Summit offers an inside look at the latest programs, technologies and strategies shaping America’s defense against evolving
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tapped Raytheon for a mission design and feasibility study on weather imagery capabilities under its Near Earth Orbit Network, or NEON, Stratus project. The company will conduct the Stratus critical design review study under an other transaction agreement NOAA signed with Raytheon valued about $5.9 million, the agency said Friday. Raytheon’s CDR study will focus on a U.S. Space Force design adapted to NOAA’s requirements for Stratus. Under NEON, low-Earth orbit environmental satellites will be launched for weather forecasting, environmental observation and public safety. The program also seeks to demonstrate faster data delivery