The commander of the Air Force’s 613th Air Operations Center in Hawaii, who advocated for more women in such roles, was removed from her position this week.

Col. Julie Sposito-Salceies was relieved from the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam unit by Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of Pacific Air Forces, “due to loss of confidence in her ability to command the organization,” according to a Wednesday news release.

“​Commanders are held to the highest standards because the airmen, and the incredibly consequential missions they plan and execute, demand it,” Schneider said.

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Pacific Air Forces, in response to Military.com questions, clarified that Sposito-Salceies is still serving in the Air Force with new duties at Pacific Air Forces headquarters and is not being investigated for misconduct or potential violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

No one at the Pentagon ordered the colonel’s removal, Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs said in an unsigned email response. Military officials rarely give the cause behind an officer’s removal from command, and often rely on the phrase “loss of confidence” or “loss of trust.” Typically, the service branches cite the Federal Privacy Act as a reason for not disclosing specifics.

Notably, Sposito-Salceies’ firing comes just days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. During his campaign, he promised to eliminate progressive programs from the military and remove officers who supported them from leadership roles.

Shortly after Trump took office, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first uniformed woman to lead any military branch, was removed from the service’s top position.

On Thursday, Military.com reported that the Department of the Air Force’s Barrier Analysis Working Groups — which looked to improve quality-of-life issues for women, minorities and LGBTQ+ troops — were eliminated as part of Trump’s push to remove programs that support diversity.

The 613th Air Operations Center “provides command and control of air and space operations across the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility,” Pacific Air Forces said in the news release.

Sposito-Salceies became commander of the 613th Air Operations Center in June, according to her service biography. Prior to that, she served as the commander of the 609th Air Operations Center out of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

She was the first woman to hold the leadership position at the 609th Air Operations Center, an Air Force news release from 2023 said. That same news release reported that “Sposito-Salceies advocates for having more women in leadership roles.”

She also taught at the Army War College, according to the 2023 news release, where she was a part of the Women, Peace and Security Program for her department.

“I taught how conflict impacts gender and how, if we looked at plans through this additional lens, we could create more effective plans from combat to humanitarian assistance,” Sposito-Salceies said in the 2023 news release.

She commissioned into the service in 2000 after graduating from Pennsylvania State University. Sposito-Salceies did not return a request for comment by email, text message and phone call.

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