Trump Taps Former Space Force Commander as Air Force Undersecretary

Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, then a Captain, stands in the Standardized Space Trainer on Buckley Air Force Base, Colo., on July 22, 2015. Darren Scott/U.S. Air Force

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, a former Space Force commander, to serve as the next United States undersecretary of the Air Force.

“Matt is a former fighter pilot, and Space Force Squadron Commander, who has devoted his life to serving our Great Nation,” Trump said in a Jan. 17 post on Truth Social.

Lohmeier, who headed the 11th Space Warning Squadron in the Space Force, was fired in 2021 after he appeared on a podcast to promote a book he wrote that claims Marxism is spreading in the military. In the appearance, he criticized U.S. institutions, including the military, universities, and media, for adopting what he characterized as leftist practices such as diversity training, blaming them for the nation’s growing divisions.

After Trump’s electoral victory in the November presidential race, Lohmeier told the Daily Mail that many of his former colleagues in uniform have reached out to him to share their excitement about the incoming administration and their hopes that Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, would drive positive change in the military.

“They’ve expressed excitement about, hopefully, a return to a simple sole focus on warfighting and not about politics and race discussions and political activist agendas,” Lohmeier told the outlet on Nov. 17.

In announcing Lohmeier’s nomination to serve as undersecretary of the Air Force, Trump said he looks forward to him working closely with Hegseth, who is also a critic of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and other progressive policies in the military.

“Matthew will work with the GREAT Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to end the devastating ‘woke’ policies that have destroyed our Military, and make our Country STRONG AGAIN,” Trump wrote.

In a post on social media, Lohmeier thanked Trump for the nomination, while taking the opportunity to encourage Americans to enlist in the armed forces.

“I’m grateful for your trust, and am very much looking forward to continuing my service to our great men and women in uniform,” he wrote. “To all men and women with a desire to serve your country in uniform, come join us now! We want the best, brightest, and strongest of you at this critical juncture in American history.”

In 2021, after he was informed he was being dismissed from the military, Lohmeier appeared on an episode of The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” program. In the appearance, he said that neither his book nor his remarks during the podcast were partisan.

“It’s not politically partisan to expose Marxist ideology where it exists and to talk about critical race theory; that should be something we’re unitedly standing against,” he said at the time.

Meanwhile, Hegseth appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 14 to make his case to become the next secretary of defense. He said he would focus on improving the warfighting capability of the military without regard for the political affiliations of its servicemembers.

“We will remain patriotically apolitical and stridently constitutional,” he said, adding that both he and Trump want “a Pentagon laser-focused on lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness.”