President Joe Biden’s nominee for Air Force secretary, Pentagon veteran Frank Kendall, has a tough job ahead of him. If confirmed, the former top military buying official would immediately inherit a slew of over budget and behind-schedule weapon programs that would require him to secure funding to salvage them despite decades of questionable management of taxpayer funds.
Biden waited three months to nominate Kendall, a former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and Pentagon acquisition chief who also has defense industry experience. The nomination came alongside the president’s pick for deputy Air Force secretary, Gina Ortiz Jones, a retired Air Force intelligence officer who deployed to Iraq before advising on military intelligence in Latin America and Africa. Jones would also bring congressional ties with two failed Democratic runs for Congress in Texas.
