A former missileer with 30 years of service has been nominated for the position of assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs.
Retired Col. Richard L. Anderson was one of several dozen nominations the White House sent to the Senate on March 10, though it is not clear yet when the Senate Armed Services Committee will weigh the nomination.
Originally from Roanoke, Va., Anderson commissioned into the Air Force after graduating from Virginia Tech in 1979. He served as a Titan II ICBM combat crew combat crew commander at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and as a Minuteman II squadron operations officer at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., according to his biography at George Mason University.
He also served at the headquarters of Strategic Air Command, U.S. Atlantic Command, U.S. Pacific Command, Headquarters Air Force at the Pentagon, and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense before retiring in 2009.
Anderson served in the Civil Air Patrol even longer, joining in 1969 and receiving the highest CAP cadet honor, the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award, in 1972. He served as national commander from 1993 to 1996, then sat on the Air Force auxiliary’s board of governors from 2009 to 2014, including two years as chairman, according to the Civil Air Patrol.
The retired colonel became involved in Virginia politics, representing the 51st House District in the Virginia General Assembly from 2010 to 2018. Anderson told the American Legion in 2015 that serving in the military prepared him for work in the General Assembly.
“In doing international affairs work, I learned to connect and collaborate and reach consensus with people across national boundaries, across cultures, and learn to respect what other people think and to maybe recalibrate what I’m thinking,” he said.
Anderson lost his reelection bid in 2019, then was elected to his current seat as chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia in August 2020.
“I am grateful to the President for his trust and confidence,” Anderson said in a written statement, according to The Washington Post. “President Trump’s nomination is also a reflection of the amazing electoral successes that our party has had in Virginia over the last four years.”
Anderson is the latest Air Force nominee awaiting confirmation by the Senate, and he could be waiting months, given the large number of pending cabinet-level and sub-cabinet-level selections.
On Jan. 16, then-President-elect Donald Trump picked Troy E. Meink to become the next Secretary of the Air Force. Meink is currently the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, a Department of Defense intelligence agency that works closely with the Space Force. Trump’s pick for Undersecretary of the Air Force, Matthew Lohmeier, is a former Space Force lieutenant colonel who was relieved of command in 2021.
Two Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), sent a letter to Meink late last month after a Reuters report that he showed favoritism to SpaceX—the space technology company owned by Elon Musk, who also advises Trump—in a 2021 government contract solicitation.
“These reports raise concerns about your ability, if confirmed as Secretary, to treat contractors fairly and prioritize the Air Force’s mission over Elon Musk’s business interests,” the senators wrote. Air & Space Forces Magazine could not immediately determine if either has placed a legislative hold on Meink’s nomination.
Gary A. Ashworth, a career Department of Defense civil servant and former Air Force officer, has been serving as acting secretary of the Air Force since Jan. 20.