Vandenberg SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif., – Ms. Stephanie Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Military Personnel Policy, and Ms. Katharine Kelley, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Human Capital, U.S. Space Force, visited the Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC’s) Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) and 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on June 27, 2023.
DASD Miller oversees the full spectrum of human resource policies for over two million military personnel serving in the Department of Defense and her responsibilities include accessions, compensation, development, assignments, separations, awards and decorations. She is directly responsible for policies and programs to sustain the all-volunteer force.
Ms. Kelley's work has a global impact, as she oversees the personnel management of military and civilian personnel located at 175 locations worldwide in support of the Space Force's space launch, space surveillance, missile warning, and satellite command and control operations.
During the visit, DASD Miller and Ms. Kelley toured the CSpOC and 18 SDS operations center to see firsthand how these two operations cells work hand and hand in efforts to support space operations. The CSpOC executes operational command and control of space forces to achieve theater and global objectives, while the 18 SDS is responsible for providing space domain awareness for the U.S. Space Command.
DASD Miller and Ms. Kelley observed the technical and critical thinking skills of the Guardians in both units, and made aware of the 18 SDS’s commitment to professional development, which includes opportunities to visit NASA, MIT Lincoln Labs, and other leading organizations in the space industry.
The CFSCC mission is to plan, integrate, conduct, and assess global space operations in order to deliver combat relevant space capabilities to Combatant Commanders, Coalition partners, the Joint Force, and the Nation. CFSCC plans and executes space operations through four distinct and geographically dispersed operations centers, including: Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.; Missile Warning Center (MWC) at Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Colo.; Joint Overhead Persistent Infrared Planning Center (JOPC) at Buckley SFB, Colo.; and Joint Navigation Warfare Center (JNWC) located at Kirtland AFB, N.M. Additionally, the CFSCC executes tactical control over globally dispersed Air Force, Army, and Navy space units that command ground-based space capabilities and satellites in every orbital regime.
The 18 SDS, a subordinate unit to CFSCC, has a highly skilled and dedicated workforce of military and civilian personnel. The 18 SDS tracks all man-made objects in Earth's orbit. It provides command and control of the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and executes U.S. Space Command's Space Situational Awareness sharing program. The squadron's mission is to promote peaceful and responsible use of space and reduce uncertainty in the space domain, including launch detection and tracking, identifying potential collisions between space objects, human spaceflight support, maneuver detection, breakup identification, and reentry assessment. 18 SDS maintains the most complete satellite catalog of Earth-orbiting artificial objects, currently tracking more than 44,400 objects including about 8,200 active spacecraft, which is available to the public on the website www.Space-Track.org. There are more than 163,000 active accounts on Space-Track.org, representing 205 countries, and U.S. Space Command currently has Space Situational Awareness Sharing Agreements with 133 commercial companies, more than 30 countries, and 7 universities.