Biden to nominate CSIS’ Andrew Hunter as top Air Force acquisition executive

WASHINGTON — The White House announced July 16 that President Biden intends to nominate defense procurement expert Andrew Hunter to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Hunter, director of the defense industrial initiatives group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, would be the Department of the Air Force’s top acquisition executive, overseeing both Air Force and Space Force research, development and acquisition programs.

Before joining CSIS, Hunter was a senior procurement official at the Defense Department during the Obama administration and served as chief of staff to former undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics Frank Kendall, who is now Biden’s nominee to be secretary of the Air Force.

From 2005 to 2011, Hunter was a professional staff member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Hunter has been a proponent of procurement reforms to accelerate technological innovation in the U.S. military.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Hunter will run both the Air Force and Space Force acquisition portfolio but that will change after the Air Force appoints a separate senior acquisition executive for space, a new position that Congress mandated in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Congress said the new position must be filled by no later than October 2022.

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