Sunday Report 4 May 2025

Name: Mitchell Institute Schriever Spacepower Series: Dr. Kelly Hammett
Start: 2025-06-24
End: 2025-06-24
Location: Virtual

The Week In National Security Space

Congress / White House

President’s FY 2026 Discretionary Budget Request released. The White House released the overview of its FY26 Discretionary Budget Request that includes a topline budget of $1.69 trillion, a 7.6% decrease from FY25 levels. The request proposes $892.60 billion in base discretionary defense funding (identical level to FY25) with a pending $119.30 billion in defense spending sourced from the reconciliation package current in Congress. The budget outlines key defense priorities to include funding Golden Dome missile defense, support to U.S. space dominance, modernizing nuclear deterrence and military resources, and advancing Indo-Pacific deterrence. The proposal includes a reduction of 24.3% in overall funding for NASA, with funds reoriented to support putting Americans on the Moon and Mars.

GOP committee chairs concerned by White House budget proposal. Several lawmakers expressed concern in response to the White House FY26 budget proposal of $1.01 trillion in defense spending, given the increase of $119.3 billion is fully sourced from the reconciliation bill. SASC Chair Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) criticized the OMB for maintaining FY25 base defense funding, as reconciliation funding is uncertain. Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and HASC Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) also both voiced concern over the base budget’s inability to meet modern military challenges and fulfill the administration’s proposed initiatives.

Personnel Announcements:

Mike Waltz has been tapped for UN ambassador, and Marco Rubio has been selected to act as the interim national security adviser. Waltz will require Senate confirmation for this role.

The Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA administrator to the full Senate, yet to be scheduled.

Space Force

Space Force to share sensitive space intel with Five Eyes partners. The United States Space Force has recently begun allowing its Five Eyes partners access to sensitive operational military intelligence on space activities. This is in response to new advances in Russian and Chinese space capabilities, in particular. The UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have been allowed access to the highest levels of US military space intelligence.

Space Force faces operational strain after civilian workforce cut. About 500 Space Force civilians, which account for 10% of its civilian workforce, accepted resignation offers as part of the White House’s federal downsizing push. With a total force of 17,000 and one-third made up of civilians, the loss poses outsized challenges to the service. Katharine Kelley, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Human Capital, told lawmakers on May 1, that the loss would be challenging, citing risks to mission continuity and reliance on Air Force support. Leaders are assessing gaps and working to prevent direct mission impact. The resignations coincide with a Pentagon hiring freeze and government-wide effort to cut 5–8% of the federal workforce, compounding staffing and readiness concerns.

SDA delays Tranche 3 transport layer due to budget hold. The Space Development Agency (SDA) has delayed the final solicitation for its Tranche 3 Transport Layer Upsilon (T3TLu) variant, originally expected this month, due to budget uncertainty. The pause also affects the Sigma and Lambda variants. SDA had planned to launch the first T3TLu satellites by September 1, 2028, with 40 satellites across four low-Earth orbit planes. The Space Force requested $137.6 million for T3TL in FY-25, with Congress proposing an additional $4 million for software architecture. This delay follows the passage of a yearlong continuing resolution in March, limiting new program starts. While the T3TL solicitation is paused, the T3 Tracking Layer effort continues, and SDA recently awarded a separate integration contract to support the program.

U.S. Space Command

SPACECOM hosts Global Sentinel 2025 exercise. U.S. Space Command kicked off its premier space security cooperation capstone event, Global Sentinel 2025, this week, and expanded participation to 29 nations and NATO, adding Chile, Denmark, Greece and India to the roster. Participants are embedded within Regional Space Operations Centers and will maintain national command and control of their sensors for planning, tasking, and analysis. The exercise leverages a dedicated Global Sentinel version of Space-Track.org for capstone modeling and simulation gameplay, mirroring the platform used for real-world events and daily unclassified space operations.

Interagency

FCC GPS rule change sparks DoD concerns over military interference. On April 30, the FCC approved new rules permitting commercial space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems to operate in bands adjacent to military GPS, aiming to promote GPS alternatives and bolster resilience against jamming and spoofing. The Department of Defense is concerned the change could interfere with critical military systems, especially given the ongoing sensitivity around spectrum use since the 2020 Ligado Networks controversy. The FCC stated that protections remain in place for federal users, but the DoD is reviewing the potential operational impacts.

International

SES in talks with EU over options to complement Starlink. European satellite company SES is in talks with EU and other governments about complementing services provided by Elon Musk’s Starlink, CEO Adel Al-Saleh told Reuters, as the region looks for home-grown options for its space-based communications. In March the European Union contacted the bloc’s satellite operators—including SES and France’s Eutelsat—to see how they might contribute if Kyiv’s access to Starlink was cut. Al-Saleh in an interview said, “What we’re seeing is all of the European governments are serious about increasing their defence spending.” He added that there are alternatives, not to completely replace Starlink, that’s not possible, but to augment and complement Starlink.

The Week Ahead

Monday, 5 May

AFA Warfighters in Action w/ CMSSF John Bentivegna. Virtual. (more)

9th IAA Planetary Defense Conference. May 5-9. Cape Town, South Africa. (more)

Tuesday, 6 May

HAC-D: Oversight Hearing – The United States Air Force and Space Force w/ Gen David Allvin and Gen B. Chance Saltzman. Washington, D.C. & Virtual. (more)

HASC: Military Readiness for FY26 w/ Gen Michael Guetlein, et. al. Washington, D.C. & Virtual. (more)

SASC: Hearings to examine the nominations of Anthony Tata to be Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness and Katherine Sutton to be an Assistant Secretary, both of the Department of Defense. Washington, D.C. & Virtual. (more)

House Homeland Security: Hearing on Bejing’s Air, Space, and Maritim Surveillance from Cuba: A Growing Threat to the Homeland w/ Dr. Ryan Berg and Andres Martinez-Fernandez. Washington, D.C. & Virtual. (more)

Schriever Space Power Series w/ Brig Gen Kristin Panzenhagen. Virtual. (more)

AFCEA Tech Luncheon w/ Steven Rush. Huntsville, AL. (more)

MIT/LL Space Control Conference. May 6-8. TBD. (more)

Wednesday, 7 May

Potomac Institute for Policy: Navigating the Future of Space. w/ Gen Michael Guetlein, Dr. Scott Pace, JP Parker, et. al. May 7-8. Arlington, VA. (more)

SFA/PAS/NSIC: Classified Threat Briefing Invitation. Colorado Springs, CO. (more)

Naval Postgraduate School: Acquisition Research Symposium and Innovation Virtual Summit. May 7-8. Virtual. (more)

Thursday, 8 May

Potomac Institute for Policy: Navigating the Future of Space w/ Pam Melroy, JP Parker, Doug Loverro, Angel Smith, et. al. Arlington, VA. (more)

Naval Postgraduate School: Acquisition Research Symposium and Innovation Virtual Summit w/ Doug Beck, Steve Butow, et. al. May 7-8. Virtual. (more)