The Senate yesterday confirmed Michael Donley to be the 22nd Air Force Secretary and Lt. Gen. William Fraser, III, for appointment to the rank of rank of general to be the new vice chief of staff. President Bush must now officially appoint both men for them to assume their new positions. Donley, who has been the Acting Secretary since June 21, was nominated on June 26 and appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing on July 22. He succeeds Michael Wynne who left the Air Force’s top position in June. Fraser has been serving as the assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He will take over for Gen. Duncan McNabb who became commander of US Transportation Command last month. The Air Force said in a release that it anticipates Fraser assuming his new position on Oct. 9; it did not provide a similar date for Donley in the separate release on his confirmation.
As commercial companies, universities, and research agencies develop new approaches to operating satellites at lower and lower altitudes, the Space Force is taking notice and considering how it might leverage those advances in both the near and long term.