The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday pressed Air Force secretary nominee Heather Wilson to explain $450,000 in payments from the country’s contractor-run nuclear laboratories.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., pointed to the payments between 2009 and 2011 as the top unanswered questions surrounding President Trump’s second nomination to a top Pentagon post during a committee hearing, the first step of her Senate confirmation process.
An inspector general investigation found the laboratory payments were not documented according to federal regulations and it was unclear what work was performed.
Wilson, an Air Force veteran and former congresswoman from New Mexico, denied any wrongdoing under questioning over the payments and lack of records.
“I did the work and complied with the contract,” said Wilson, who told senators she was never contacted by Department of Energy auditors.
The committee chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pointed out that Wilson was not charged with any ethics or legal violations. The committee will make a recommendation to the full Senate on whether to approve Wilson’s nomination.
Armed Services Republicans wanted to focus on how Wilson could rebuild the Air Force and modernize its aging and shrinking fleet to face growing threats abroad rather than the payments for what Wilson said were consulting work for the four labs.
The Trump administration has also been slow to fill key Pentagon positions. The sole confirmation of a top civilian position was Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in January and Wilson could add some needed presence among empty seats and Obama administration holdovers.
Wilson said she worked with the laboratories before being elected to the House in 1998 and linked back up with them after she left Congress in 2009.
“There is a wide variety of nation security things that I did,” she said.
The work included consulting for 50 hours per month with presidents and vice presidents at the labs as part of advisory boards that looked at nuclear intelligence, strategic planning, cybersecurity and satellite programs, Wilson said.
