Chief of Space Operations' Planning Guidance

Chief of Space Operations’

Planning Guidance

Chief of Space Operations

CSO Planning Guidance

CSO Priorities

Empower a Lean and Agile Service

Develop Joint Warfighters in

World Class Teams

Deliver New Capabilities at

Operationally Relevant Speeds

Expand Cooperation to

Enhance Prosperity and Security

Create a Digital Service to

Accelerate Innovation

“We are forging a warfighting Service that is always above. Our purpose is

to promote security, assure allies and partners, and deter aggressors by

demonstrating the capability to deny their objectives and impose costs

upon them. We will ensure American leadership in an ongoing revolution

of operations in space, and we will be leaders within government to

achieve greater speed in decision-making and action. We will partner with

and lead others to further responsible actions in, and use of, space to

promote security and enhance prosperity. Should an aggressor threaten

our interests, America’s space professionals stand ready to fight and win.”

General John W. Raymond

CSO Planning Guidance

INTENT

This Chief of Space Operations’ Planning Guidance (CPG)

provides foundational direction for the Space Force to

advance National and Department of Defense (DoD)

strategic objectives. This authoritative Service-level

planning guidance supersedes previous guidance and

provides the context and outline for our new Service

design. In some areas, the CPG will define specific

actions, timelines and offices of primary responsibility. In

other areas, the CPG describes my intent and desired

outcomes. This guidance is intended to empower space

professionals at all echelons to take initiative consistent

with their delegated authority and mission focus to

implement Service priorities. To enable initiatives, I will

also specify several efforts that should be deprioritized

to generate resources for reinvestment.

This CPG communicates my intent and defines the

capabilities and culture the USSF will pursue over my

tenure. I will update intent, expand on guidance and

review the progress of transformation initiatives via

Force Design guidance annually. I expect all echelons to

read, understand and implement this guidance.

The Space Force has a mandate in national strategy,

policy, and law to be both pathfinder and protector of

America’s interests as a space-faring nation.

The convergence of proliferating technology and

competitive interests has forever re-defined space from

a benign domain to one in which we anticipate all

aspects of human endeavor – including warfare. The

return of peer, great power competitors has dramatically

changed the global security environment and space is

central to that change.

The United States Space Force is called to organize,

train, equip, and present forces capable of preserving

America’s freedom of action in space; enabling Joint

Force lethality and effectiveness; and providing

independent options – in, from, and to space.

Demonstrable and persistent military spacepower

promotes security in the space domain and assures

partners. Spacepower backstops deterrence by

communicating America’s ability to impose costs on

hostile actors and deny adversary objectives. Security

and stability set conditions for a range of national and

partner interests in all domains and enhance America’s

long-term competitive advantage and leadership.

While the Industrial Age created our nation’s early

advantage in space, the tools and skillsets of the

Information Age are required to sustain and extend that

advantage. The rapidly increasing scale, scope,

complexity, and pace of space domain operations in

general, and military space operations in particular,

demand an independent space Service. The change in

policy and law that created the Space Force followed

closely on the heels of the 2017 National Security

Strategy and 2018 National Defense Strategy, and their

bold, future focus informs our force design. We will

deliver a streamlined, agile, and innovative organization

that sets a new standard in the Department of Defense.

During this period of transformation, our forces must

continue to deliver the effects our Nation and Joint Force

count on without fail. Commanders responsible for those

missions will prioritize efforts to ensure they continue

seamlessly despite the disruptions inevitable during

Service establishment. This CPG outlines my priorities to

guide how the Space Force will organize, train, equip,

integrate, and innovate:

Empower a Lean and Agile Service

Develop Joint Warfighters in World Class Teams

Deliver New Capabilities at Operationally Relevant Speeds

Expand Cooperation to Enhance Prosperity and Security

Create a Digital Service to Accelerate Innovation

These priorities will guide Service efforts across all

echelons, shape performance assessment at Headquarters

U.S. Space Force, and frame how we communicate to

civilian leaders across and outside the DoD. They provide

a strong foundation for where we want to be as a Service

over the next decade, beyond the tenure of any one CSO,

Administration, or Congress.

Space Force will offer civilian leaders and Joint

Commanders options that can be used independently or

in combination to deter or defeat aggression and achieve

national objectives. While we will extend and defend

America’s competitive advantage in peacetime, the

ultimate measure of our readiness is the ability to

prevail should war initiate in, or extend to space.

America’s Space Force will be Semper Supra, always

above. We are moving swiftly to establish a lean, agile,

and innovative Service ready to meet the challenges of

today and the future. We stand ready to protect and

deter, and to fight and win in freedom’s high frontier.

CSO Planning Guidance

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

DESIGN IMPERATIVE

America needs a Space Force able to deter conflict, and

if deterrence fails, prevail should war initiate in or

extend to space. Space capabilities enhance the

potency of all other military forces. Our National

leadership requires resilient and assured military space

capabilities for sustained advantage in peaceful

competition, or decisive advantage in conflict or war.

We will design and build a Space Force to meet three

cornerstone responsibilities: preserve freedom of action,

enable Joint lethality and effectiveness, and provide

independent options – in, from, and to space. We must

build a force that allows civilian decision makers and

Joint commanders to fully exploit the space domain to

achieve National strategic objectives.

The change in the geo-strategic and operating

environment that compelled the creation of the Space

Force means that many of our legacy space capabilities

must be reevaluated for ongoing relevance. Let me be

clear – if we do not adapt to outpace aggressive

competitors, we will likely lose our peacetime and

warfighting advantage in space.

The process of designing and building a new Service

requires productive disruption. We cannot deliver the

new capabilities the Nation requires while remaining

indistinguishable from the ways and means of our past.

I expect commanders and program managers to accept

moderate risk associated with innovation and

experimentation to build an agile force that better

ensures our long-term competitive advantage in space.

Failing to accept the risk that accompanies innovation

and experimentation will slow capability development

and ultimately transfer risk to Joint warfighters. I do not

accept the imposition of risk on warfighters to protect

bureaucratic processes.

We face twin challenges: we will not be bold enough, or

that risk-aversion and legacy-oriented processes will

undermine our efforts. The first challenge is my charge

to all space professionals – be bold, your leaders and

your Nation expect it. The second is the responsibility of

Service senior leaders – lead boldly and inspire bold

leaders inside and outside the Service.

RISE OF COMPETITVE GREAT POWERS

Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate they

view space as essential to modern warfare, and view

counterspace capabilities as potent means to reduce

U.S. and allied military effectiveness.

Modern Chinese

and Russian space surveillance networks are capable of

finding, tracking, and characterizing satellites in all earth

orbits. Both Russia and China are developing systems

using the electro-magnetic spectrum, cyberspace,

directed energy, on-orbit capabilities, and ground-based

antisatellite missiles to destroy space-based assets.

These systems can achieve a range of effects against U.S.

and allied military, civil and commercial capabilities from

temporary and reversible, to irreversible degradation.

In addition to holding our own space capabilities at risk,

systems fielded by peer competitors increasingly allow

them to operate with the reach, agility, and lethality that

U.S. forces once unilaterally enjoyed. Both China and

Russia continue to improve their space-based

intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and

communications capabilities to support long-range kill-

chains that hold U.S. and allied terrestrial forces at risk.

In addition to space capabilities, both China and Russia

have elevated information superiority and decision

speed to be central tenants of their doctrine. The ability

to observe, orient, decide, and direct action at machine

speeds will revolutionize future military operations. This

is especially true in space where spacecraft operate at

speeds and distances orders of magnitude greater than

terrestrial counterparts. The force that prepares for this

revolution and reaps its potential will have a significant

advantage over the force that does not.

PROLIFERATING ACCESS TO SPACE

The rapid growth of the commercial space sector provides

the United States both new potential partners and

opportunities to leverage commercial investment to

enhance our space capabilities. Ubiquitous technology

reduces barriers to access space for all and introduces

new actors, competitors, and potential adversaries.

Advantage will go to those who not only create the best

technologies, but who also best integrate, field, protect,

and operate them in ways that provide significant military

advantages.

CSO Planning Guidance

MISSION EVOLUTION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

When the space age began, mastery of the most

advanced disciplines of science, engineering, and

manufacturing was required to produce a few exquisite

systems. Early military space systems were designed for

strategic missions such as detecting ballistic missile

launches. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union actively

developed anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities to attack the

small inventory of U.S. military satellites. From that time

on, the mission of space professionals had changed to

include defense of exquisite military space systems.

New technology and the innovation of our operators and

industry pressed these limited number of high value

strategic space systems into unforeseen operational and

tactical applications. The 1991 Gulf War was the first

“space war” to fully integrate America’s space

capabilities on the battlefield. The dominant advantage

that space-based ISR, satellite-based communication

(SATCOM) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) gave

Coalition forces led potential adversaries to consider

space systems attractive targets in future conflict.

Recent resurgence in deployment of modern direct

assent and co-orbital ASAT capabilities require us to

develop and deliver offensive and defensive options in

the near-term, while we transition to a resilient

architecture able to mitigate attack, assure capabilities,

and rapidly reconstitute in the mid- to long-term.

Every interaction in space, between military,

government, civil, and commercial entities creates a

pattern of behavior that communicates intent and

establishes, reinforces, or diminishes norms. Our space

domain awareness capabilities allow us to compare

intent as communicated by words and behaviors.

Alignment between what an actor claims to be doing and

what we observe, such as who initiates movement to

proximity with another spacecraft, or who does – or does

not – respond to requests to maneuver responsibly,

refines our understanding of an actor’s intent. We will

actively use interactions, consistent with applicable law,

to shape norms of behavior that enhance National

security and reduce opportunity for a competitor or

potential adversary to misinterpret intent.

Aware of substantial U.S. military strength on the land,

in and under the sea, and in the air, potential adversaries

are using asymmetric counters to mitigate U.S. power

projection. Great power adversaries have used

aggression and illegal occupation to seize territory, and

invested heavily in “anti-access and area-denial” (A2/AD)

capabilities to make the air, sea, and land of their near-

abroad inaccessible to an American or Coalition

intervention. Space capabilities expose the vertical flank

of the terrestrial A2/AD environment. In the future

multiple missions currently conducted by terrestrial

forces will shift, in whole or in part, to space. This is

already underway with tactical ISR and will soon expand

to other missions.

Empower a Lean and

Agile Service

REDUCING BUREAUCRACY

The new design of our Space Force headquarters and Field

Command structure aligns complementary functions and

streamlines echelons of command in the deliberate pursuit

of speed and agility. Space Force will innovate and incubate

faster, flatter decision and command structures that can be

refined and applied across the Department of Defense.

During the analysis that led to the creation of the Space

Force, Congress identified over 60 offices responsible for

elements of space policy, oversight, and guidance, with

nearly 30 more who influence space architecture. We will

work across the Department to unify and harmonize

efforts. We will prepare implementation plans to unify

disparate acquisition and sustainment authorities for space

systems currently distributed across the Army, Navy, and

Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The imperative to flatten bureaucracy is about more than

efficient management – it enables the decision-making

speed and agile implementation that generate advantage

in competition or conflict. Our current system struggles to

keep pace with fast evolving threats and technologies.

Today’s modernization efforts must navigate a slow,

disaggregated and desynchronized bureaucratic process

that increases risk for our Joint warfighters. We will

consolidate and coordinate disparate processes to

accelerate decisions and reduce that risk.

Reducing bureaucracy does not mean eliminating the

oversight required by law and policy. Rather, it emphasizes

empowerment through delegation of decision authority to

the most responsive competent authority, and a high

degree of accountability. Tight alignment of responsibility,

accountability, and authority is key to speed and agility.

CSO Planning Guidance

HEADQUARTERS U.S. SPACE FORCE DESIGN

Our smaller, more empowered force will be reflected in a

smaller, more streamlined headquarters structure, re-

formatted to merge direction of aligned functions under

four new offices.

The Human Capital Office (HCO) will build and manage our

workforce of the future. They will develop a human capital

strategy that emphasizes up-to-date and innovative

approaches to access, engage, assess, and retain world

class civilian and military professionals. Their primary

responsibility is to win the battle for talent, now and in the

future. They will tailor force development to produce

expertly trained and effectively led space professionals

with the skills and mindset to sustain U.S. advantage in

competition and prevail in war against a peer adversary.

They will capitalize on our small Service size to enable

talent management practices that individually develop,

retain, manage, and cultivate high impact professionals.

The Operations Office will enable our space operations

and training commands. They will oversee unit and

capability readiness and develop force presentation

options for the Secretary of the Air Force. They will

integrate intelligence and operational policy to outpace

threats and sustain a high-end ready spacecrew program;

direct integrated analysis to assess performance of Space

Force systems, personnel, and processes; and ensure the

CSO can manage the readiness of forces. In addition, they

will develop and represent USSF positions as Service

operations deputy in support of the CSO as a Joint Chief.

Under the Operations Office, the USSF Senior Intelligence

Officer will build a space ISR enterprise to support

operations, inform Service design and development, and

enhance civilian and military decisions.

The Strategy and Resources Office (SRO) will drive USSF

strategy, planning, and programming to ensure our force

is resourced to succeed. They will lead USSF capability

development, serve as resource champion for space

capabilities, and influence the design of the national space

architecture.

The SRO will lead coordination with

Combatant Commands to ensure the USSF POM

position optimizes Joint effectiveness and lead

partner engagement to ensure complementary allied,

commercial and civil capability development.

In order to accelerate our Service transformation to a data-

driven “digital service,” we have created a new Technology

and Innovation Office (TIO). The TIO will direct USSF

innovation and incorporation of advanced technology. In

addition, the TIO will work with the HCO to drive the

technical culture and competencies of our Space

professionals. The TIO will ensure the USSF has the data

infrastructure and machine augmentation to embrace

cutting edge information age organizational practice.

The USSF Director of Staff will generate a comprehensive,

yet succinct hierarchy of business rules and directives that

define roles and responsibilities within the headquarters

enterprise. They will publish directives on behalf of the

CSO defining the scope and sequence of staff actions.

I expect the Chiefs of these offices and Director of Staff

to make service-level decisions aligned with this

guidance and keep me informed through candid, timely

communication.

FIELD COMMANDS

Like our forward-looking headquarters structure, our

field command structure flattens our force structure

from five echelons to three and reflects a mission-

focused force design.

The Space Operations Command (SpOC) will be the

primary force provider of space forces.

The SpOC

generates ready space forces for presentation to the Joint

Force via the Commander of Space Forces

(COMSPACEFOR).

The Space Systems Command (SSC) is responsible for

developing, acquiring, and fielding effective and

resilient space capabilities. SSC will be responsible for

developmental testing, launch, on-orbit checkout,

sustainment, and maintenance of USSF space systems,

as well as integration with other space development

activities including coordinated capability

development with multi-national partners. In addition,

SSC will provide oversight and integration of USSF

science and technology initiatives. SSC will lead efforts

to adapt our acquisition culture, workforce, and practice to

match the pace of partners who are significantly

accelerating space technology development.

Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM)

will educate and train space professionals and conduct

operational test and evaluation of systems in order to

deliver combat-ready space forces prepared to

succeed in our warfighting domain. While currently

provisionally organized as a Delta, it will grow to a

CSO Planning Guidance

full-strength field command in fiscal year 2021. Our

very near-term doctrine development, training, and

education paradigms depend heavily on Air Education

and Training Command and Air University. STARCOM,

in coordination with the HCO, will develop options to

establish a more independent system of doctrine and

professional military education by 2023.

DISTRIBUTED DECISION AUTHORITY, “COMMAND

BY NEGATION,” AND MISSION COMMAND

Agile decision-making capability must extend outside

headquarters and staff structures as well. Commanders,

directors, and supervisors at the lowest competent and

authorized level should be empowered to make

decisions. Clear communication of delegated authorities

is critical to empower effective and timely decision

making. I expect headquarters elements to publish, and

commanders to understand such authorities.

The potential speed and scale of space warfare means a

traditional “command by affirmation” style, where a

subordinate echelon assumes they are limited to

narrowly prescribed authorities unless explicitly

authorized by higher echelons, likely incurs a dangerous

disadvantage. Therefore, I direct a default command

style of “command by negation” where subordinate

echelons are expected to default to action except where

a higher echelon has specifically reserved authority.

In order to capitalize on unique opportunities of our

small mission-focused Service, and to enhance

conditions for initiative at all levels, I am directing use of

mission command by the Space Force. Joint Publication

3-0 describes mission command as “built on leaders at all

echelons who exercise disciplined initiative and act

aggressively and independently to accomplish the

mission,” and that aligns with the bold, agile, innovative

force we are developing. We will use “mission-type

orders” (MTO) to direct subordinate echelon action, and

work with USSPACECOM to implement MTOs to enhance

resilient and responsive command and control of

operational space forces.

Soon, Commanders at all levels must be prepared to

engage in combat operations enhanced by artificial

intelligence to observe, orient, decide and act at

machine speeds. Anticipating the incorporation of

automation into our decision making and C2 structures,

STARCOM will prepare Commanders with the skill to

develop and publish MTOs that are both human and

machine executable. We will train our space

professionals and the intelligent systems that support

them to make deliberate, conditions-based delegations

of authority or transitions between human-on-the-loop,

human-in-the-loop, or autonomous modes of operation,

consistent with appropriate human judgement, to

maintain decision advantage under contested conditions.

Develop Joint Warfighters

in World Class Teams

A NEW KIND OF JOINT WARFIGHTER

Every Service presents warfighters with a common sense of

duty to Nation and devotion to mission. Every Service also

presents warfighters with characteristics that reflect their

unique domain. We are America’s space warfighters. We

share expertise and technical fluency with other space-

oriented organizations, but space professionals are charged

with mastering both space domain knowledge and unique

operational art to achieve military purposes. The character

of war in the space domain is fundamentally unique from

warfare in other domains. This necessitates unique

systems, tactics, and doctrine, and a dedicated cadre of

warfighting professionals with specialized education,

training, and experience to prevail in combat.

A VALUES-DRIVEN SERVICE

Core values are our Polaris. Our success depends on a

solid foundation of shared personal values to enable

agility, innovation, empowerment, mission command,

and partnership. We expect all members to understand,

exemplify and reinforce our core values.

Until we develop and finalize thoughts on core values

with insights from Space Force leaders at all levels, we

will keep as our foundation the Air Force core values –

“integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all

we do.”

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Our Space Force is charged with protecting the people

and ideals of the United States. Inclusion of professionals

with diverse backgrounds, skills, and experiences

enhances our ability to achieve national security

objectives by increasing our ability to re-frame complex

problems and inoculate against groupthink and bias.

CSO Planning Guidance

We have a unique opportunity for a fresh start to create

new policies, from dress and appearance, to family

needs, personal development, and facility standards that

are more consistent with inclusion efforts. The Space

Force will not sustain an industrial-era accession

paradigm that placed a premium on conformity and de-

emphasized members’ unique culture and heritage.

We value members for the culture they bring with them

into the Service and believe people of all backgrounds

who are inspired by our mission and committed to our

standards make the Space Force stronger. We will not

accept either conscious or unconscious bias in our midst

and support policies that actively guard against

discrimination.

INFORMATION AGE RECRUITING AND RETENTION

Future growth projections and missions require

additional space professionals and we want the best and

brightest. In order to meet the demand, the HCO will lead

efforts to develop recruiting partnerships at institutions

that are recognized pipelines for technical talent from

diverse backgrounds. The HCO will also develop a robust

marketing campaign that encompasses experiential,

partnership, media, and literature marketing to increase

overall public and pre-accession interest in space. We will

not passively wait for the best to respond to marketing,

but actively use merit and diversity-based criteria to seek

the talent we want.

Our efforts to manage, develop, and retain this talent

will be central to the long-term viability and success of

the Service. Our small, flat organization allows for

deliberate individualized development focused on

building space warfighters with the necessary

experience and skills to prevail in combat while giving

them the opportunities and benefits they seek for a

fulfilling career. The HCO will maximize the full range of

existing civilian and military personnel authorities,

including those contained in recent changes to Law such

as Modified Direct Hire Authorities.

We will monitor competition for talent from other DoD

and civilian organizations looking to hire USSF space

professionals. We will provide developmental

opportunities for space professionals across all U.S.

space sectors, including national security, civil, and

commercial. We will recruit professionals with

recognized expertise and unique experience able to

perform immediately, as well as to build a junior cadre

with the potential to grow into future leaders and

innovators. We will create opportunities to crossflow

high caliber personnel from industry into government

positions and USSF members to industry or other

government agencies to remain current in technology

and best practices.

REALISTIC TRAINING

We will make every effort to train in realistic, contested

conditions. Our forces are always in competition, and our

capabilities are likely among the first targets of an

aggressor’s action. In both competition and conflict

adversaries will seek to impose fog and friction through

degraded systems, compromised networks, false

information, and disrupted communication. We will

develop and acquire in hi-fidelity simulators, virtual and

augmented reality, and artificial intelligence to improve

warfighting proficiency against a thinking, reacting

adversary and foster the critical thinking and decision-

making skills required in combat.

Commanders at all levels must ensure crew commanders

and Mission Directors are proficient at applying

warfighting concepts like acceptable level of risk, self-

defense, risk to mission, and risk to force, and prepared

to make sound tactical decisions in a contingency. We will

recognize and reward expert system management and

prudent risk acceptance to meet commander’s intent.

CRITICAL THINKING AND COMMUNICATION

A lean, agile, and mission-focused force requires a high

degree of connection, collaboration, and communication

at all levels. We value a culture that actively shares

insights and information, and provides context up and

down echelons of command to ensure our space

professionals understand their mission, commander’s

intent, and updates that align evolving requirements. We

value clear verbal and written communication oriented to

inform decisions and implement actions.

We also value design approaches to critical thinking, and

data-driven problem solving. Over the next year, the

Director of Staff will publish guidance that establishes a

standard for how space professionals approach

structured data-driven decision-making. Like MTOs, a

standardized process is not intended to constrain thinking

but rather to enhance our ability to rapidly analyze

complex problems, develop and evaluate courses of

action, and select a best option.

CSO Planning Guidance

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

As the lead military Service for space, we will foster the

synchronization and integration of space warfighting

doctrine across our sister Services and National, Joint,

and Combined operations. We will prioritize training and

education courses for space professionals and optimize

coursework to keep pace with advancing space

employment demands. Space professionals will also gain

experience from advanced education, selected space

duty assignments, and broadening tours in Joint and

Coalition environments.

In order to build tactical depth and operational

leadership in our space professionals, we will focus

leader development on specialization in our seven

spacepower disciplines. We will build experts in these

disciplines through advanced training and education that

expands upon the space warfighting fundamentals

taught at Undergraduate Space Training. STARCOM will

develop the unique curricula required by the first four

disciplines of Orbital Warfare, Space Electromagnetic

Warfare, Space Battle Management, and Space Access

and Sustainment. In addition, STARCOM will facilitate

inclusion of space-unique content for Military

Intelligence, Cyber Operations, and Engineering and

Acquisition career fields for individuals intending to join

or support Space Force units.

Beyond formal education, every space professional is

expected to improve themselves and their teammates to

better contribute to their teams. Leaders at all levels

have a responsibility to enable and encourage the growth

of their subordinates. We embrace a growth mindset

and lifelong learning, allowing us to evolve and adapt to

changing environments faster than our adversaries.

COMMITMENT TO FAMILIES

Our ability to retain diverse, talented and highly skilled

space professionals is directly linked to our ability to

meet the needs and expectations of their families. Just

as we support the development and growth of Space

Force members, we support the development and

growth of Space Force families. We will work with our

partners in the Air Force to improve access to childcare,

housing, employment opportunities, and resources that

make service in the Space Force attractive. We will

develop and employ human capital management tools to

reduce the tension between a member’s military career

and professional opportunities for their family members.

Deliver New Capabilities at

Operationally Relevant Speeds

ANALYTICAL INSIGHTS DRIVING FORCE DESIGN

Service-level wargames over the past few years have

focused on peer adversary conflict scenarios. Insights

from these wargames inform future force development

and highlight the potential for space warfighting

capabilities to dramatically enhance the effectiveness,

efficiency, and flexibility of our Joint Force.

Wargames have shown in any great power

conflict, our

alliances and partnerships are an essential factor to

achieve

success.

We will enable and defend our allies

as they in turn provide capabilities that complement

our own.

The absence of features equivalent to national borders in

space means there is no sovereign territory separating

forces. While separation of terrestrial forces creates

opportunity for early warning, defense by maneuver, and

deterrence by credible escalation capabilities, the

current lack of equivalent norms in space allows actors to

operate at any location in the domain and at any distance

from other spacecraft. This may allow a potential

attacker to maneuver close to other space assets, from

where they can execute a “first mover” surprise attack.

This creates a potentially destabilizing “use it or lose it”

dilemma that accelerates escalation. To avoid this

dilemma, our force design must reduce vulnerability to a

first mover attack and provide calibrated escalation options

for Joint Commanders to seize or regain initiative.

Further, wargaming shows that space forces have inherent

vulnerabilities in multiple domains. Space operations

depend on orbital, terrestrial, and link segments. Each of

these offers an attack surface, and adversaries will target

vulnerable segments to degrade the larger architecture. We

must ensure Joint Commanders are prepared to defend

critical space assets that enable Joint Forces.

PROGRAMMATIC DIRECTION

The ability to prevail in conflict is foundational to all other

Space Force missions. While America’s legacy military

space capabilities have been in the fight enabling combat

effects for decades, our systems have not been consistently

designed for war that initiates in, or extends to, the space

domain. Adapting legacy designs will not produce effective

CSO Planning Guidance

systems for conflict because combat considerations favor

fundamentally different design and engineering choices.

Our programs of record will deliver

Joint Warfighting

capabilities

, providing Combatant Commanders

military capability to achieve operational objectives.

We will enable Combatant Commanders to protect

and defend the people and homeland of the United

States and our interests and allies.

I am willing to take

risk in legacy system capacity and availability in order

to create recapitalization opportunities for next-

generation resilient and defensible systems.

Our

force design must

reflect data-driven, threat-informed

choices that are stressed against the forecast

capabilities of potential great power adversaries.

In order to establish a consistent structure for

developing programmatic positions, I am establishing

a Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC) built on

the foundation of the Enterprise Strategy and

Architectures Office (ESAO) and the Space Security

and Defense Program (SSDP). The SWAC will develop

future force design options for consideration and CSO

decision. SWAC analysis will support effective

communication with Executive and Legislative

resourcing and oversight functions.

To ensure our force design offers the Joint Force

assured effects, the SWAC will analyze opportunities

to enhance the resilience of legacy systems as an

interim step to fielding a force designed to operate in

a warfighting domain. The SWAC will develop future

force structures that meet evolving mission

requirements, are resilient to the threat, and are cost-

informed. The SWAC will execute Service wargaming

functions that help to formulate these architectures,

as well as understand their interplay between USSF

and the Joint Force. SWAC designs inform the CPG,

annual “Force Design” updates, Service requirements,

and programming options validated by the SRO.

Programmatic options will consider partner and

hybrid architectures where appropriate, including

with

other U.S. government agencies.

In the case of

space-based environmental monitoring, some tactical

satellite communications, and positioning, navigation

and timing, civil and commercial partner services

provide a degree of capability that may allow further

re-investment in next-generation warfighting

systems.

In the near term, the Space Force benefits from

government and commercial partnerships to rapidly

enhance capabilities in Space Launch and Sustainment

and Space Domain Awareness. We will prioritize

investments in Orbital Warfare, Space

Electromagnetic Warfare, and tactical intelligence

portfolios to enable effective defensive options and

prompt offensive capability to deter adversaries from

initiating conflict in or extending conflict into space. If

deterrence fails, these capabilities posture us to fight

and win in space.

OPERATIONALLY RELEVANT ACQUISITION SPEED

While our mission in space has evolved dramatically,

shifting from strategic to operational and finally

tactical warfighting, our acquisition paradigm has

remained largely static. Current acquisition processes

often require years from validating capability gaps to

new fielded capabilities, even when the technologies

involved are well known and program risks are low.

With DAF support, we will seek new acquisition authorities

critical to enable the Space Force to streamline

requirements validation; accelerate decision speed;

maximize budget execution, stability, flexibility, and

efficiency; increase program capability; and accelerate

contracting speed. These changes will allow us to outpace

adversaries unencumbered by industrial-era acquisition

and oversight paradigms and consider new technology

opportunities in which we can capitalize. This requires new

delegated authorities in law or policy in some cases, and

more effective utilization of existing authorities in others.

We commit to providing the transparency required for

effective oversight by Congress and other stakeholders.

ENHANCING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

According to the 2017 National Security Strategy

“adversaries and competitors [have become] adept at

operating below the threshold of open military conflict and

at the edges of international law.” Adversaries actively

create and exploit “gray zones” in which they achieve

political objectives through actions that avoid traditional

triggers for conflict where the United States enjoys clear

military advantage. The Space Force will provide unique

space-enabled options, tailored to support operational

commanders, to shrink gray zones. Space Domain

Awareness, for instance, enables attribution that reveals

illegal or hostile action and sets conditions for a better

informed and legitimized response.

CSO Planning Guidance

Our design for force transformation must consider

opportunities to enhance America’s civil and commercial

spacepower. Both Space Policy Directive-4 and statutory

provisions of Title 10 task the USSF to protect America’s

interests, including commercial interests in space. The

recent Space Force 2020 Space Industrial Base Report

described a role the Space Force can play to help promising

commercial partners thrive through high-risk initial

ventures to validate high-potential new technologies.

Space Force will use strategic investments to cultivate a

strong, diverse and competitive American space industrial

base. Civil and commercial developments that pave the

way for exploration and commercialization beyond near-

Earth orbit will both generate technology that benefits the

USSF and require an order of magnitude expansion of our

ability to sense, communicate and act to protect and

defend American interests in cis-lunar space and beyond.

Expand Cooperation to

Enhance Prosperity and Security

Evolved and expanding partnerships will improve our

enterprise capability, capacity, and resilience. We will build

on existing relationships and identify opportunities to

integrate partner space capabilities into our enterprise.

JOINT INTEGRATION

Our closest partner will be the Air Force, on whom we will

rely for enablers to accomplish tasks common to both of

our missions. The Air Force will operate our bases, help us

communicate throughout our global footprint, and deliver

care and services for space professionals and their families.

We will undertake deliberate effort to enhance partnership

with all Services by participating in both Joint and Service

wargames and capability development efforts to

understand their space equities, multi-domain concepts,

enabling requirements and integration opportunities.

Space professionals must be expert integrators and

communicators to ensure Joint counterparts in all Services

and at all levels understand fast evolving space capabilities

and threats, and their operational implications. To ensure

Joint Force commanders are better equipped to utilize

space domain-unique warfighting capabilities the COO will

lead engagement to update space training modules in the

JFMCC, JFLCC, JFACC, and JTF training courses to increase

awareness of space warfighting capabilities as both

independent and integrated operational options. In

addition, over the next year STARCOM will work with the

National Security Space Institute to develop updated space

warfighting training modules in fulfillment of

USSPACECOM joint training requirements.

In order to ensure service members from multi-Service

backgrounds can better consume and contribute to USSF

planning and direction, I am directing use of Joint

planning methodology throughout the Space Force. In

addition, we will template to Joint style, formats, and

terminology unless explicitly required by DAF direction.

This ensures a common standard and prepares USSF

members for integration with Joint forces.

INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY INTEGRATION

The need for space domain intelligence continues to

increase in the face of changing missions and emerging

threats. The U.S. Space Force will continue to strengthen its

partnerships across the Intelligence Community, especially

with the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-

Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and

National Security Agency. Current cooperation is largely

focused on the mission to protect and defend assets and

must grow into operational collaboration at multiple levels.

Today we are building deeper alignment across multiple

agencies. In the future we will develop and expand shared

strategies that synchronize national security space

capabilities and operations to detect and characterize

threats, defeat attacks, and respond to aggression.

As a focal point for space domain intelligence, we will seek

to re-align space-oriented functions of the National Air and

Space Intelligence Center to form a co-located National

Space Intelligence Center (NSIC). In concert with the Space

Force ISR Enterprise, the NSIC will provide a framework for

growth to meet anticipated demand for increased space

intelligence at foundational, tactical, operational and

strategic levels.

MULTI-NATIONAL COOPERATION

Our efforts to deter and promote stability are enhanced by

a multi-national effort. We will leverage ally and coalition

partner capabilities in operations and acquisitions to

identify and close gaps in our space enterprise. We will take

measures to strengthen our allies' space capabilities. This

includes cooperative capability development, professional

education and training, and operational coordination and

liaison. As we expand our network of partners, we will strive

to be the partner of choice, providing the collective security

for all those who join alongside us.

CSO Planning Guidance

When space was a less contested domain, America could

prefer security at the expense of collaboration. The

evolution of the security environment requires greater

interoperability with partners and allies, many of whom

have already integrated with U.S. combat capability in

other domains. We will reevaluate data sharing

agreements and security paradigms that often limit

coalition interoperability in space. We will expand partner

participation in operations and capability development in

order to reduce cost, increase resilience, and accelerate

capability modernization.

Our approach to partnering also includes U.S.

industry, civil organizations, academia, laboratories, and

agencies. Key enablers for this effort are the scalable

architectures and open standards which will also allow

rapid, cost-effective integration of all desired partners.

Create a Digital Service to

Accelerate Innovation

ESTABLISHING A DIGITAL SERVICE

Data and information, along with the skills and tools to

put them to use, and drive to innovate will guide and

accelerate our decision-making and permeate all the key

activities of the Space Force.

Harnessing the best that technology has to offer and

applying it in ways that can outpace the advances of our

adversaries require us to change our capability

development processes. We will lead efforts to

implement Digital Engineering standards for Space

Force acquisition programs. This will include adopting

digital twins and model-based systems engineering, and

expanding agile software development and DevSecOps

to expedite capability development and improve

acquisition outcomes. America’s most successful

companies, including hardware manufacturers, logistics

providers, software companies, and “big data” analytics

producers, employ these techniques to create

competitive advantage for their businesses. These

activities are also required of America’s Space Force, and

we will take industry’s best practices, tools and

benchmarks to create similar agility in military space

development and operations.

Effectively harnessing technology requires the Space

Force to foster and grow a Digital Workforce. Our

personnel must be comfortable with technology and

have ability to apply and adapt it for our national security

objectives. They should be capable of thinking and acting

in the “data space,” prioritizing data-centric solutions

over product-centric processes. In addition, we will

develop organic modeling acumen among USSF members

to guide our digital efforts. This will make us more

capable and engaged partners with industry and allow us

to implement a more digital acquisition paradigm using

modeling and simulation. Digital fluency will begin with

state-of-the-art training environments and is sustained

through continued exposure and implementation of

digitally supported decision-making throughout their

careers.

With digital engineering and fluency as foundational

elements, we will drive Digital Operations across our

space mission sets to increase all domain awareness and

close the kill chain faster with more robust, informed C2

decision options. In doing so, we will fully exploit modern

commercially-based digital capabilities including

software defined networks, data analytics, machine

intelligence, cloud edge computing, and modular plug-n-

play systems. Digital applies not only to our weapon

systems but to our business processes as well, and the

Space Force will apply similar techniques to enable a

Digital Headquarters. Full implementation of our digital

strategy will involve investments in Digital Engineering

data and analytics infrastructure to ensure all our data is

discoverable, accessible, understandable, linked, and

trusted across multiple security levels.

Automation and autonomy will accelerate and

streamline our operations and provide analytics to

optimize mission and headquarters effectiveness.

Applying machine learning and trusted levels of

autonomy will allow our personnel to focus on data-

driven decision-making instead of manually sorting and

sense-making the vast amounts of data created by

operations in space.

Our investments in this digital campaign will be

effective if they allow us to make better use of our

human capital. By automating tasks that are repetitive,

time-consuming, or that do not require application of

human intelligence, we will create the time to train,

educate, wargame, and develop a world-class fighting

force. This will also give us an advantage in recruiting and

retaining space professionals who expect to work with

cutting edge cognitive tools. The TIO will lead automation

and digitization efforts over the next year to generate a

15% enhancement in the amount of dwell time available

for advanced training.

CSO Planning Guidance

Summary

Space is a vital national interest. Activities on land, at sea,

in the air, through cyberspace, and in the

electromagnetic spectrum all depend on space

superiority. The nation established the U.S. Space Force

to ensure freedom of action for the United States in,

from, and to space. The strategic environment demands

we act boldly now to build a Service designed to act with

speed and decisiveness to ensure the United States

maintains its advantage in the domain.

By executing this guidance, we will support a position of

strategic stability, U.S. advantage in space, and a space

warfighting posture that deters aggression and ensures

Joint and Coalition warfighters can employ forces in the

time, place, manner, and domain of our choosing.

While not all encompassing, this CPG is sufficient to provide

clear guidance on the way forward. I expect all uniformed

and civilian space professionals, and USAF personnel

assigned to USSF units and staffs, to read and begin

implementing this guidance immediately. Soon, the USSF

Director of Staff will publish an implementation plan to

accompany this guidance that offers specified and

implied tasks derived from the CPG, the offices of primary

responsibility, and timelines.

This CPG identifies those characteristics and capabilities

within the force that must evolve. We do not have the

luxury of delay for further analysis. We will move out to

build the Service our nation expects and needs. I am

excited to join you in this journey.

JOHN W. RAYMOND

General, USSF

Chief of Space Operations