U .S. Space Force Gen. Stephen N. Whiting is a space operations officer and has commanded the 13th Space Warning Squadron; the 614th Air and Space Operations Center and Joint Space Operations Center; the 21st Space Wing; and the Combined Force Space Component Command and 14th Air Force. His staff assignments have included positions at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force; U.S. Space Com- mand; U.S. Strategic Command; the Chief of Naval Operations’ Strategic Studies Group; the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense; Headquarters, Air Force Space Command; and Headquarters, U.S. Space Force. Prior to his current position, he was the Commander of Space Operations Command. Whiting is a 1989 top distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a B.S. in aeronautical engineering. He also is a distinguished graduate of space training at Lowry AFB and the Squadron Officer School at Maxwell AFB. He holds an M.A. in Administrative Sciences from George Washington University, an M.A. in Military Operational Arts and Sciences from the Air Command and Staff College, and an M.A. in Airpower Strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Sciences. He attended the program for senior executives in national and international security at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Defense Acquisition magazine editors Emily Ashcom and Benjamin Tyree interviewed Whiting on Nov. 18, 2024.
Q In this new era of strategic competition, how can we ensure that SPACECOM has the capabilities necessary to meet the challenges of a dynamic space domain? A. Emily, for us here at Space Command, that starts by really understanding what capabilities we need. And we do that through a number of mechanisms. But perhaps the two most important are number one, the plans we produce. According to [U.S. Code] Title 10, as a Combatant Commander, my
number one responsibility is to plan for the employment of the Armed Forces. And so, we rigorously plan all the capabilities that we need to execute the defense strategies that we need to put into place. And through that, we can start to derive what the gaps are. The second way that we figure out what capabilities we need is through our exercise and wargaming program. Like all Combatant Commands, we have a tier-one exercise series. And as we go through that, again, we see the gaps we have and the capabilities we need. And then we have a process that converts those gaps into requirements. And there are a number of ways that we can work requirements through the JROC [Joint Requirements Oversight Council] and with the Services. And then also we have other mechanisms like the Inte- grated Priority List, the IPL, where we define what we need in the upcoming POM [Program Objective Memorandum] cycles. And that goes out in advance so the Services and the defense agencies can build to resolve those gaps. And then each year, federal law requires that I issue an UPL, an unfunded priority list, directly to the Congress, highlighting what gaps weren’t addressed in the budget for their consideration and potential funding. So that’s a few mechanisms by which we determine what the capability gaps are and then convert them into actionable documents that can drive the capabilities that we need.
8 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION | March-April 2025
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