Army Gen. James H. Dickinson relinquished command of U.S. Space Command, the 11th and newest combatant command, to Space Force Gen. Stephen N. Whiting.
In his speech, Gen. Stephen Whiting expressed the honor of leading America’s military members and acknowledged the weight of their responsibilities. He emphasized the priority of preserving freedom of action in space and ensuring the delivery of capabilities to the joint force. Recognizing the increased contestation of space by China and Russia, Whiting underscored the importance of creating top-tier warfighters and systems, with a focus on collaborative partnership between SPACECOM and USSF. He emphasized the joint nature of the Command and its reliance on the various services for success. Whiting pledged to work closely with allies and partners, highlighting space as a team sport, and expressed the commitment to ensuring there is never a day without space.
Kathleen Hicks and Gen Dickinson in their speeches both underscored the value the Command brings to the joint force, highlighted the growing threats in space, and thanked Gen Whiting for his continued dedication to the security of the United States and its allies.
More detailed notes are below.
10 January 2024
Space Command Changes Commanders
Army Gen. James H. Dickinson is relinquishing command of U.S. Space Command, the 11th and newest combatant command, to Space Force Gen. Stephen N. Whiting.
Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense, DOD
SPACECOM
-SPACECOM is the newest combatant command. In four short years it has made tremendous strides. Every day SPACECOM delivers tremendous value.
Adversaries
-Space is integral to military operations and our competitors know it. They realize how much the US depends on space and they want to undermine us. That’s why our pacing challenge, China, is rapidly vamping up space capabilities. It’s why Russia has used counter space threats to undermine the interests of the US and our allies. Both are working to target our space systems and to conduct operations to degrade our space advantages.
-Conflict is not inevitable in space or anywhere else. US is committed to preventing conflict through deterrence.
Resilient Space Architectures
-For a long time you could count our space capabilities by the handful. Now we’re leveraging proliferated constellations. Some launch almost weekly. America’s dynamic commercial space industry enables it and enables the US to outpace adversaries.
-The US is committed to leading in the space domain and in every domain. We work with like-minded nations to keep the space domain peaceful. SPACECOM has led the charge.
Military Promotion Holds
-Last year’s holds on promotions were unnecessary, unprecedented, and unsafe. They were bad for the military, bad for military families, and bad for America. They should never be repeated. We’re committed to getting SPACECOMs leadership in place as soon as possible.
Gen James Dickinson, Former Commander, US SPACECOM
Service Members
-Bringing the different services and experiences together in one single org, coupled with great leadership, that’s the secret sauce of US SPACECOM. It’s because of the people including allies and partners.
SPACECOM Key Tasks
-First was to gain education on our competition, threats, and adversaries. We stood up our intel center. We integrated our team into the IC. We stood up MASINT, providing 27/4 analysis. We created deliberate processes so that we could message strategically during competition.
-Second, we routinely responded, gave recommendations to our leadership. We participated in exercises to come up with plans. In December we completed our reorg, Space Forces Space. This design improved unity of effort.
-Third, establish key relationships through alliances and attracting new partners. We have partnerships with 33 nations, enhanced space ops with UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, France. We established joint, integrated space teams.
-Four, maintain digital superiority through innovation and investments. Since 2020, we improved integration with Cyber Comm and improved posture by having service components dual hatted.
-Fifth, integrating commercial. Today, we now have 139 commercial partners and are looking together at things like AI/ML, data sharing, and capacity.
-We are ready and can effectively execute our command plan.
Gen Stephen Whiting, Commander, US SPACECOM
US SPACECOM
-Leadership of America’s military daughters and sons is an honor. I have a sober appreciation of the responsibilities placed on our shoulders.
-Our highest priority is to preserve freedom of action in space and ensure delivery of capability to the joint force.
-PRC and Russia consider space a warfighting domain and their actions have made the domain more contested.
-The importance of the services creating world class fighters and systems… building guardians mastering space… a combatant command focused on this realm, partnership between SPACECOM and USSF must be collaborative. We will succeed together.
-We must maximize the joint nature of our command. We cannot complete our tasks without the other services as well. US SPACECOM will not be successful without the services.
-We will now focus on refining. We will provide the deterrent against adversary aggression and be prepared to fight and win if necessary.
Partnership
-I pledge to work closely with allies and partners to protect our nations and succeed in space together. Space is a team sport and I promise we will be good teammates with stakeholders.
-Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, guardians, contractors, civilians, coast guardsmen, strength comes from our people. Together we will fulfill our promise to the US and our allies and ensure there is never a day without space.
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