{"id":53470,"date":"2019-03-13T19:42:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T19:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/13\/in-memo-air-force-head-hits-space-development-agency-as-not-ready-for-prime-time\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:54:39","slug":"in-memo-air-force-head-hits-space-development-agency-as-not-ready-for-prime-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2019\/03\/13\/in-memo-air-force-head-hits-space-development-agency-as-not-ready-for-prime-time\/","title":{"rendered":"In memo, Air Force secretary slams Space Development Agency as not ready for prime time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Space Development Agency was officially established as of March 12 \u2014 a move that goes against the wishes of the U.S. Air Force\u2019s top civilian, who slammed the Pentagon\u2019s plan for adding bureaucracy, creating risk by removing jobs and starting a new project that has yet to be validated, according to a memo obtained by Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson\u2019s memo, dated Feb. 28, offers a scathing rebuke of the Space Development Agency, a pet project for both acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top Air Force official argues that the Office of the Secretary of Defense, or OSD, has not adequately laid out how to transfer the authority of the SDA to the Space Force, which was provisioned in a Jan. 19 memo by the defense secretary titled \u201cGuidance for the Establishment of the Space Development Agency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2019\/03\/13\/pentagon-officially-stands-up-space-development-agency-names-first-director\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"186\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19019746070204.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon officially stands up Space Development Agency, names first director<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The new office will be led by a DARPA expert.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The SDA also \u201cappears to replicate existing ones already ordered by Congress,\u201d she wrote. She points to a memo by the OSD, which states that the SDA would be modeled on organizations like the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, even as the service Air Force has launched a space-focused version of the agency called the Space Rapid Capabilities Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUntil the Space Development Agency has a uniquely identifiable mission that cannot be accomplished by current organizations, the plan should not move forward,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past month, Wilson has emerged as a strong critic of the SDA, telling reporters in February that she still had questions about the mission of the organization and over what it could do differently or better than existing entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She has since announced her resignation and is set to leave her office in May. However, her dissent is notable, because the next Air Force secretary will be tasked with leading the U.S. Space Force \u2015 if its creation is approved by Congress. The new military branch is slated to at some point be tasked with overseeing the SDA, which is currently under Griffin\u2019s purview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked by media Wednesday why he felt the Air Force and Wilson were being so vocal in pushback against the SDA, Griffin paused for several seconds before saying \u201cI\u2019m not sure I really know. and so I won\u2019t comment. I can\u2019t get into people\u2019s motives and not everybody who has spoken may have even the same motives. I note, and it has been noted within the media, that the Air Force has broadly disapproved of secretary Shanahan\u2019s decision. Everybody can\u2019t always agree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Griffin then went on to note that the Air Force has been resistant to change before, citing the introduction of the ICBM and unmanned systems, before adding \u201cI would not choose to single out the Air Force, or indeed any other entity. It is a general rule that large, existing organizations do not respond well or favorably toward new innovations. It would be an exception if they did embrace a new idea. So, I\u2019ll just leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the Pentagon released its legislative proposal for the Space Force, there was noticeably little included about the SDA. A senior Pentagon official, however, said that was by design to focus the attention on the Space Force creation, adding that a new memo on the SDA is coming, perhaps as soon as this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the disagreement between Wilson and Griffin on the role of the SDA, the official was blunt: \u201cDr. Griffin will win in the end on this one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Job cuts<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilson\u2019s memo responds to a second memo out of the OSD, titled \u201cQualification of Savings to Establish Space Development Agency,\u201d which lays out an argument that as many as 55 civilians and 75 military jobs could be cut across the current space portfolio, which would offset the projected government staff requirement for the SDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those cuts would come from the Missile Defense Agency (20 civilians and 15 military personnel), the U.S. Air Force Remote Sensing Directorate (15 civilian and 30 military), and a trio of service divisions focused on protected satellite communication, wideband SATCOM and advanced development (20 civilian and 30 military).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fully staffed SDA will feature approximately 225 personnel, made up of 67 civilian, 45 military and 113 support contractors, per the memo. That would leave a net cut of 18 jobs across the department, which the qualification memo states will definitively save the Pentagon money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In essence, the SDA would be a leaner, less bureaucratic alternative to existing space procurement organizations by stripping personnel from a number of agencies and eliminating a handful of Defense Department positions altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that\u2019s too risky a gamble to make without further analysis, Wilson argues in a different memo to Griffin dated Feb. 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe \u2018Quantification of Savings\u2019 paper suggest that harvesting personnel from existing office that perform critical missions today \u2018could\u2019 result in savings, without addressing the risk to such programs if personnel were removed,\u201d Wilson wrote. \u201cThe plan should not move forward until the proper analysis has been completed and coordinated. Absent rigorous supporting analysis, validation and verification of such savings, we do not recommend Secretary of Defense certification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Griffin, however, says he sees the work being done by SMC and the space RCO as separate missions from that of the SDA. On the RCO, he pointed out that SDA cuts across the entire department while the Air Force office is more limited, although \u201cI would be utterly surprised if we didn\u2019t have, from space development agency, some useful working relationship with space RCO. I would expect that we would.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As to SMC, \u201cthey have a very important function with continuing to produce and oversee the legacy space architecture, the things we have in space today that we surely don\u2019t want to give up. but this is a new capability with new functions,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about SMC. It\u2019s about creating new capabilities as rapidly and as effectively as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to criticizing the structure of the SDA, Wilson also lambasted its first major procurement effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first big project the SDA will work on is what the memo calls the \u201ctransport layer\u201d in low-Earth orbit \u2014 a large number of mass-produced small satellites networked together to provide \u201cglobal, persistent, low-latency data transfer between and among the space and ground elements and the strategic and tactical military users of the next-generation architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the long term, the SDA will be charged with procuring \u201cnot just the data transport layer but additional capabilities such as an alternate positioning, navigation and timing system, low-latency targeting, and improved detection, tracking and defense of ballistic and advanced missile threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Wilson argues that the Air Force and the director of the Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation office are still conducting detailed work on whether that disaggregated satellite architecture will be better than current plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is premature to conclude that a massively proliferated low-Earth obit architecture would be more resilient in the face of deliberate attack than alternative, similar price architectures,\u201d she writes. \u201cThe proposed plan requires in-depth supporting analysis and validation by the warfighting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Griffin, for his part, cast the need for the transport layer as long-overdue, saying \u201cthis is not a task currently being received by the air force or anyone else. It\u2019s not a duplicative task. It\u2019s a new thing we\u2019re doing to meet known mission requirements for a threat driven space architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy guess is that\u2019s going to keep me busy for a while,\u201d he later said, when asked if the SDA has plans for other future projects. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to solve world hunger here. We\u2019re taking on a specific and very important challenge that means a lot tome personally, and that\u2019s my first priority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/federal-budget\/2019\/03\/12\/heres-how-much-money-the-defense-department-wants-for-its-trio-of-new-space-organizations\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/div_nrol47_1a.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here\u2019s how much money the Defense Department wants for its trio of new space organizations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Out of the Space Force, U.S. Space Command or the Space Development Agency, which organization is set to get the most money in fiscal 2020? The answer may surprise you.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Long-standing differences<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking last month at the Air Force Association\u2019s winter meeting in Orlando, Wilson was upfront about her skepticism of the SDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have some concerns about what is the mission of this entity, why do we think it would be better than what we currently do, and what exactly will it be focused on conceptually,\u201d she said. \u201cI expect there would be public discussions on this. Conceptually, it would be stood up and then rolled into a Space Force, which means that it would be in a new agency that would exist for probably less than a year. So I think there [are] still questions.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fight over the SDA is, in many ways, a fight over who controls the future of the space portfolio. Getting the Space Force to live within the Air Force, even if just temporarily for a few years, was a major win for Wilson and her team. But the SDA exists outside the Air Force, and will only move within the Space Force when, or if, that new branch stands up independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notably, the fiscal 2020 budget request included $306 million to stand up the headquarters of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/12\/20\/trumps-new-space-force-to-reside-under-department-of-the-air-force\/\">Space Force<\/a>, establish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2019\/01\/29\/shanahan-has-identified-space-command-head\/\">U.S. Space Command<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/11\/08\/space-expertise-isnt-necessary-to-run-the-space-development-agency-says-pentagon-deputy\/\">create the Space Development Agency<\/a> \u2014 and of those three, the SDA got the most money, with $149.8 million in new funding that cannot be transferred from other parts of the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear what this money will go toward. The budget provides a general description of the role of the SDA, saying it will \u201cwill have a development mindset and will be focused on experimentation, prototyping and accelerated fielding, as well as leveraging commercial technologies and services.\u201d However, it does not lay out why the SDA\u2019s stand-up costs are equal to that of U.S. Space Command and the Space Force combined, especially as the SDA \u2014 with 20 transfers and 30 new employees \u2014 is smaller than the other two offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked about that dollar figure, Griffin declined to comment, but said details will be available when the Pentagon\u2019s j-books are released in the near-future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the past, Shanahan and Griffin have talked about the SDA as the core of what the Pentagon will do in the space domain. In October, Shanahan described it as \u201cwhere all the players go\u201d if they want to do something with space assets, later telling Defense News that he needs someone in that job focused on how to architect common standards across the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is that integrated environment that we have to protect, and the best way to be able to provision for the future is to develop a foundation that\u2019s rooted in a very well-defined architecture and standards,\u201d Shanahan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/11\/08\/space-expertise-isnt-necessary-to-run-the-space-development-agency-says-pentagon-deputy\/\" target=_blank>then the deputy secretary<\/a>, said. \u201cAnd the standards aren\u2019t just simply for interfaces, these are design standards, you\u2019re manufacturing standards, these are test standards \u2014 so it\u2019s a suite of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This story was updated 3\/13\/19 at 4:40 PM to reflect Griffin\u2019s comments.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pentagon wants to cut more than 100 current jobs and replace most of them with Space Development Agency roles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":114159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"},"8":{"categories":["hr","management","daily-brief","newsletters","home"],"primary_category":"hr"}}},"categories":[37,160,36,19,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3378,3384],"class_list":["post-53470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"3LP62CJWINBBHHIK3NXQZ3QNBI","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2019\/03\/13\/in-memo-air-force-head-hits-space-development-agency-as-not-ready-for-prime-time\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In memo, Air Force secretary slams Space Development Agency as not ready for prime time - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Pentagon wants to cut more than 100 current jobs and replace most of them with Space Development Agency roles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In memo, Air Force secretary slams Space Development Agency as not ready for prime time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Pentagon wants to cut more than 100 current jobs and replace most of them with Space Development Agency roles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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