Braxton Taylor
When Matthew Lohmeier took the stage at a town hall in North Carolina in October, he looked at former President Donald Trump and told him that he had been fired from the Space Force — the service branch created under the president’s first administration — because he criticized diversity initiatives in the military.
In front of the crowd of supporters, Lohmeier also told the former and soon to be future president that he should establish a “special task force, office or position” to make sure that there aren’t any more diversity, equity or inclusion efforts throughout the Department of Defense.
“I’m going to put you on that task force,” Trump replied to him as the audience erupted in applause.
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Trump seemingly didn’t forget that interaction. The now-president announced Friday on social media that the former officer would become his nominee to be the second-highest civilian leader of the Department of the Air Force — which also oversees the Space Force, the service branch Lohmeier was once part of.
“I am pleased to announce that Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier will be the next United States under secretary of the Air Force,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media platform. “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’s choice has some leaders in the Space Force worried, Military.com has learned. One Space Force Guardian said some leaders are nervous that, if confirmed as under secretary, Lohmeier could seek retribution against those officers.
“I’ll kind of judge it based on his actions, but I know that there’s a pretty big wave of fear amongst the Space Force senior leaders,” a Space Force Guardian, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak to the media, told Military.com. “I think there’s this fear that he might have personal bias against some of the generals.”
In 2021, Lohmeier was fired from command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado by then-Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting after Lohmeier made comments during a podcast promoting his self-published book “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military.”
Notably, Whiting was promoted to four-star general and is now the head of U.S. Space Command — which may be relocated from Colorado to Alabama under Trump’s administration, Military.com reported.
During congressional testimony in January 2024, Lohmeier told lawmakers that he submitted an inspector general complaint in which he alleged the garrison commander of Buckley Space Force Base had “unethically used his position to promote anti-American propaganda,” the November 2020 complaint detailed.
Lohmeier said in his testimony that the complaint “was never investigated and was later dismissed” by Whiting.
An inspector general probe into Lohmeier’s podcast appearance and comments was started shortly after his firing, Military.com reported in 2021. It’s not clear whether that investigation has concluded or is ongoing.
Lohmeier commissioned into the Air Force in 2006 after graduating from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, according to a biography submitted to Congress. He flew the T-38 Talon as an instructor pilot and later the F-15C Eagle. He transferred into the Space Force in October 2020.
In an excerpt from his book, Lohmeier writes about an experience he had as a young Air Force Academy cadet in which he traveled with a group to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force Academy in China, where he bunked with two Chinese cadets.
Lohmeier writes he made small talk with those cadets because he spoke Mandarin, and “they appeared to take a liking to me, and I remember liking them.”
Lohmeier wrote that the two cadets told him they believed in Marxism and that he “felt compassion for them” and later explained the interaction served as a reminder that “America was great.”
Meanwhile, the former Space Force officer has become a guest on numerous conservative and right-wing media shows where he has espoused controversial views.
In a 2023 interview with conservative media personality Glenn Beck, Lohmeier claimed the U.S was involved in the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
“I think the United States was directly involved,” Lohmeier told Beck in the interview. “I think it was responsible, probably.”
He went on to speculate that a Navy P-8 Poseidon could have been used to carry out the attack. The U.S. government has denied any involvement in the attack. Information leaked online in 2023 detailed that the CIA was allegedly aware of a Ukrainian military plan to sabotage the pipelines, The Washington Post reported.
Trump has named Troy Meink, the principal director of the National Reconnaissance Office and a former KC-135 Stratotanker navigator, to be his nominee as Air Force secretary. If both are confirmed, Lohmeier would be second in command and would become acting secretary in case of Meink’s vacancy.
“Thank you, Mr. President! I’m grateful for your trust, and am very much looking forward to continuing my service to our great men and women in uniform,” Lohmeier wrote on the social media platform X in response to Trump’s nomination. “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.”
Defense experts told Military.com that the selection of Meink and Lohmeier shows how the Space Force will be a top priority for the incoming Trump administration.
Lohmeier did not respond to multiple text messages and emails seeking comment on his nomination.
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