USSF Official: Intel-Military Space ISR Debate Is Necessary

COLORADO SPRINGS—Conversations, sometimes pointed ones, are ongoing between military and intelligence community leaders about the right model for purchasing commercial satellite imagery for surveillance—a step that is both needed and healthy as the Pentagon figures out how to fight in space, the head of the Space Force’s commercial office says.

The U.S. Space Force is moving more into the mission—which it is now calling tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking—including releasing a new strategy outlining to industry how it wants to bring on new capabilities. This uniformed military effort is an encroachment into a mission area typically handled within the intelligence community, with groups like the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) with authority for surveillance.

This has led to some consternation for those set in the established ways. For example, a recent Breaking Defense report stated the Space Force’s push to operate ground-moving target indication from orbit has added to the commercial satellite imagery debate, prompting the White House to look for a solution.

Col. Rich Kniseley, the senior materiel leader for Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office, says these discussions are necessary—and healthy—to deal with the changing operational focus on space and the impact on traditional mission areas.

“I don’t like to say ‘turf wars’ and everything, but it’s an example of ... changes in the space domain,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 2024 Space Symposium here in Colorado Springs. “We can’t operate as we normally would, and so these are conversations between leadership.”

As concepts of operation and rules of engagement evolve, these conversations need to occur.

“I’m hoping that conclusions are made, and they’re exercised and wargamed and what not,” Kniseley says. “It’ll also be a clear indication for industry on investments and also where the department’s going.”

Eventually these conversations will likely end up codified in a Defense Department memorandum or a concept of operations document on how to bring together Title 10 military authorities and Title 50 intelligence authorities.

“This is the cool thing about space right now, is it’s bringing together those Title 10, Title 50,” he says. “Normally where there’s a separation, I think there’s like a natural evolution and you’re going to have some overlap. It’s kind of bringing all these things together.”

Congress, in the fiscal 2024 defense spending bill, has the Space Force authority to buy surveillance imagery for combatant commands. This move comes as the Space Force has been undertaking a pilot project with U.S. Africa and Southern commands to use the Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking Marketplace to buy imagery and other data from commercial providers, Knisely says.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, in a February speech, highlighted this program as a successful way to provide actionable surveillance for military missions quickly. For example, Southcom tasked it to identify and geolocate a Chinese-flagged vessel suspected of illegally fishing in Peruvian waters. The command tasked a U.S. Air Force C-130 to fly over the vessel, and allowed Peruvian Coast Guard personnel to respond.

Kniseley pointed to this program as a new way the Commercial Space Office is working to provide surveillance data, but “we’re not doing that in a vacuum right now,” he says.

“We’re working with our counterparts, with the NRO and the NGA, because, number one, we want to glean their insights because they’ve been executing this mission as well,” he says. “But we’re working together to get after this on a tactical timeline. Our cell right now is turning queries to deliverables in less than 72 hr. In the event of a conflict, in my mind, we want to start turning that within minutes to hours.”