Space acquisition and NRO picks face SASC

WASHINGTON — Trump administration nominees for two influential U.S. national security space posts endorsed closer coordination between the Space Force and intelligence agencies while calling for wider use of commercial technology and faster action on acquisition programs.

Erich Hernandez-Baquero, nominated to become the Air Force’s top civilian space acquisition official, and Roger Mason, the president’s choice to lead the National Reconnaissance Office, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee July 14.

If confirmed, Hernandez-Baquero would oversee the Department of the Air Force’s space acquisition enterprise, including Space Systems Command, the Space Development Agency and a newly established group of Portfolio Acquisition Executives responsible for broad mission areas rather than individual programs.

The position has been vacant since Frank Calvelli left the government in January 2025. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy served as acting assistant secretary for the following year, before Thomas Ainsworth began performing the duties of the office in January 2026.Mason would replace Christopher Scolese, who left the NRO on July 10 after leading the intelligence agency since 2019. William Adkins, the agency’s principal deputy director, is performing the director’s duties pending confirmation of a successor. 

Mason appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 2. The separate hearings reflect the NRO’s status as both a Defense Department agency and an element of the U.S. intelligence community, giving the armed services and intelligence committees oversight roles in reviewing the nomination. 

Although Tuesday’s hearing included questions about military space procurement, commercial satellite services and intelligence systems, much of it was dominated by exchanges with Pentagon comptroller nominee Jules Hurst about the department’s supplemental budget request and the Trump administration’s military operations against Iran. The space nominees received comparatively limited questioning.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the committee’s top Democrat, pressed Mason on the changing division of responsibility between the NRO and Space Force as the military shifts airborne and ground moving-target surveillance missions toward satellite-based systems.

The Space Force has operational responsibility for those missions, while the NRO has supplied technology and acquisition expertise for parts of the emerging architecture. Reed questioned whether the arrangement could pull the spy satellite agency toward near-term military requirements at the expense of its broader intelligence mission.

Mason said the roles of the two organizations remained clear and described their work on moving-target systems as “a case of good governance” and “an example of adapting technology instead of starting a brand new program.”

He pointed to the Ground Moving Target Indicator program, which adapted technology under development at the NRO rather than creating an entirely new military system. He said the Air Moving Target Indicator program represented a further transition toward the Space Force, which is procuring the planned airborne-target tracking satellites.

Hernandez-Baquero also identified space-based AMTI as a priority. The planned sensors would track aircraft and other moving targets from orbit and supply information to military command and targeting networks.

He said the program should build on existing capabilities and use the Space Force’s new acquisition structure to move quickly. AMTI, he said, would provide domain awareness at the front end of what the military calls space-enabled kill chains, the sequence of systems used to identify, track and engage a target.

‘Commercial first’ policy

Commercial space emerged as another theme, with lawmakers questioning whether the Pentagon was translating its stated preference for commercially available products into actual contracts.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said Pentagon commercial spending had fallen by about 1% despite provisions in the annual defense policy law and an executive order directing the department to adopt a “commercial first” approach.

Mason said commercial systems should not be treated as supplements to government-owned satellites.

“The commercial element is an essential, integrated part of the architecture,” he said.

Mason said the NRO’s next-generation architecture would need to combine proliferated constellations of smaller satellites, large specialized spacecraft and commercial capabilities. The agency would also have to protect sensitive technology as it expanded partnerships with private companies, he said.

Hernandez-Baquero said the United States must accelerate military space programs as adversaries expand anti-satellite capabilities and develop space-enabled weapons designed to evade U.S. defenses.

If confirmed, he said his priorities would be acquisition reform, integration across missions and rebuilding the acquisition workforce. He called for greater use of commercial technology and new business models, along with broader authority for the Space Force’s Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs.

The Space Force is reorganizing its acquisition enterprise around PAEs who control groups of related programs and cross-functional teams. The approach is intended to allow officials to make trade-offs across an entire mission rather than managing each satellite, ground system or network separately.

Hernandez-Baquero said he would use the structure to test end-to-end capabilities earlier and more frequently, reducing the risk that satellites, software, communications networks and ground systems fail to work together after years of separate development. He also said he would “personally coach and mentor every PAE.”

Legacy programs, Golden Dome

Hernandez-Baquero said he was most concerned about long-running legacy acquisitions that were not developed using modern digital engineering tools or designed to operate as part of hybrid architectures combining military, intelligence and commercial systems.

If confirmed, one of his first actions would be to review the work remaining on those programs and assess their cost, schedule and technical risks, he said.

The hearing also touched on Golden Dome, the Trump administration’s proposed missile-defense system. Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, questioned whether a planned layer of space-based interceptors could provide enough military value to justify costs that are still unclear.

Hernandez-Baquero said he had not been briefed on the program’s details. He said that, if confirmed, he would work with Golden Dome’s program manager to ensure the space components could be scaled and delivered at an affordable cost.

Mason, meanwhile, said artificial intelligence would be necessary to process and combine the growing volume of data collected by government and commercial satellite constellations.

The government “cannot do what it needs without AI,” he said, while adding that the technology would require appropriate risk management.

Hernandez-Baquero also warned that the increase in military satellite deployments would place additional pressure on U.S. launch sites. He said the Pentagon should consider multiyear procurement agreements and other incentives that could encourage companies to invest in launch infrastructure, production facilities and satellite manufacturing capacity.

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