After year of continuing resolutions and significant underfunding, the U.S. Air Force finally has a predictable and robust 18-month budget with which to work. This conversation will explore the priorities the Secretary has spelled out for America’s Air Force, and what those priorities mean for the decades ahead.

Heather Wilson is the 24^th Secretary of the Air Force. She is responsible for the organizing, training and equipping and providing for the welfare of 660,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian forces as well as their families. She oversees an annual budget of more than $132 billion.

Before assuming her current position, she was President of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. From 1998 to 2009, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where she served on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Prior to her election to Congress, Secretary Wilson was a cabinet secretary in New Mexico’s state government responsible for foster care, adoption, juvenile delinquency, children’s mental health and early childhood education. From 1989 to 1991, she served on the National Security staff as Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control for President George H.W. Bush. From 1991 to 1995 and from 2009 to 2013, she was in the private sector working in development and planning for defense and scientific industry.

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Secretary Wilson was an Air Force officer from 1982 to 1989. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.