The Air Force has begun a major organizational and technical shift to strengthen its use of space for national security purposes. Undersecretary of the Air Force Peter Teets presented details about the transformation of the U.S. space plans February 7 in a Pentagon briefing. He also serves as Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Appointed to the position on December 13, Teets said he is embracing the opportunity to move the country forward in the national security space arena. His mission is to bring together the military and national elements of space "to assure that the United States is the nation with the best national security capabilities while still being good stewards of the American tax dollar," he said.

"Our vision for national security space is one which takes advantage of the best we have to offer from both the military and the national space communities, and I intend to create an integrated national security space capability that's better than anything that we have today," Teets said.

A key goal in the integrated space plan is "universal situational awareness," the Air Force Undersecretary noted.

"That word 'universal' has a temporal component as well as a spatial component. And I think what we have found is that in moving ahead with this war on terrorism, it's going to be important for us to have persistent intelligence -- universal in terms of time, but also universal in terms of space, and on the surface, under the surface, et cetera," Teets said.

To accomplish the goal of universal situational awareness, breakthrough technologies and techniques are necessary.

Regarding new technologies, Teets said a number of lessons learned have appeared from the conflict in Afghanistan.

"While the intelligence collection capabilities have been excellent, we need to add persistence to the equation," Teets said. That persistence means use of satellites that offer longer dwell times over targets.

"You'd like to be able to have a focused view of hot spots on the face of the Earth that is not intermittent, but more continuous. And that's what I mean when I talk about universal situational awareness. Universal has this temporal component. You'd like to know all the time what's going on around the face of the globe," Teets said.

New technology planted at higher altitudes would allow U.S. space assets to have excellent collection capabilities at higher altitudes, and more persistent dwell times, Teets added.

A key player in supplying revolutionary breakthrough technology has been, and will continue to be, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Teets said.

"I would like very much to see us with additional research and development activity that will allow us to achieve more breakthrough technology. And I think I best leave it at that. But I'll amplify to just say, find ways to gather intelligence informationfind out the enemy's secrets," he said.

One of those new technologies is Space Based Radar. The new Defense Department budget calls for more funds to accelerate work on this powerful, orbiting eye, and have it up and operating before 2010.

How best to protect space assets and negate satellite use by an enemy -- perhaps using anti-satellites -- is under study, Teets said. A definitive plan should be finished in six to eight months, he said.

"I think one of the real important things that we need to look at now is how we are going to protect and defend our space assets. It is clear that these assets are vital to our national security. It's important for us to know at what point in the future will those assets be threatened in some way, and how do we see those threats developing and evolving, and then put together a plan that will allow us to protect those assets," Teets said.

Deemed critical to utilization of space for national security purposes is assured access to space, Teets emphasized, and the nation's ability to protect space assets.

Teets said that discussions are underway with NASA to combine military space plane interest with the space agency's Space Launch Initiative (SLI). The intent is to create a reusable launch vehicle (RLV).

In looking at RLV development, "I think it wise for us to have a partnership with NASA and help them in ways that are possible for us and vice versa," Teets said.

A future meeting between Teets and NASA's new chief, Sean O'Keefe will detail how the two agencies can move forward together on RLV work, he said.

Teets announced a number of new posts, including the creation of a new deputy for military space. A person to head that office will soon be announced. It is anticipated that a civilian, with significant experience in military space, would be selected, he said.

Air Force Major General-select Mike Hamel will run a Directorate of National Security Space Integration. This office will be responsible for implementing the best practices of military and national space programs and will help transform military programs and pool resources to most effectively meet the needs of military and national customers.

Filling the slot for Air Force Space Acquisition is Air Force Major General Joe Sovey. Teets said that Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold is the program executive officer for Air Force Space and commander of Space and Missiles Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base. He will now become Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Air Force Space.

Finally, Brigadier General Steve Ferrell has been selected as the new national security space architect, bringing "a strong warfighter perspective to space," Teets said.

"Together this makes up a tremendous team to leverage our unparalleled talent from the military, intelligence community and industry to provide the nation with the best space capabilities to meet the challenges of the 21st century," Teets concluded.

Additionally, having a cadre of space professionals dedicated to this mission is of utmost importance.

"I'm on a course to make certain that we have the best and the brightest involved in this national security space endeavor. We also need to integrate the cultures of our military and intelligence community space professionals. And clearly, our focus will be on mission success," Teets said.

Teets said that the military makeover now underway is geared to "make the world's best space forces even better."