Loverro, Sirangelo, McLaughlin Headline National Space Council Meeting

The National Space Council meeting on Tuesday will feature three speakers from varying backgrounds:  Doug Loverro, Mark Sirangelo, and Lt. Gen. James “Kevin” McLaughlin (Ret.).  All three will offer their perspectives about national security space.  The Space Council meeting is focused on progress made so far and future steps toward President Trump’s proposed Space Force.

Loverro is a well known voice on national security space issues.  After an extensive career in Air Force space programs, including Executive Director for Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missiles Systems Center, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy during the Obama Administration.  He is now a consultant with Loverro Consulting and often speaks about the need to reorganize the Air Force and DOD to more effectively address national security space challenges.  In March, he testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. space warfighting readiness and argued that to assure that readiness in the future, an organization to meet those needs must be established “either within or outside the Air Force…”

Sirangelo recently joined the University of Colorado Boulder as an “entrepreneur in residence” after a decade at Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) leading its space systems division, including development of the Dream Chaser spacecraft.  Previously he was CEO and Chairman of the Board of SpaceDev, which was acquired by  SNC in 2008.  He also served as Colorado’s chief innovation officer and chairman of the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN).

McLaughlin is the former Deputy Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, a unified combatant command that is sometimes suggested as a model for recreating a U.S. Space Command as a combatant command. He was responsible for planning and the executive decision process for creating U.S. Cyber Command and its acquisition organization.  Throughout his Air Force career, he served on the staffs at major command headquarters, combatant command headquarters, the National Reconnaissance Office, Air Force headquarters, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He was Director of Space Operations at Headquarters Air Force from 2012-2013 and previously held a number of top level positions in other Air Force space units.  He also was a staff member for the Rumsfeld Space Commission. After the report was released in March 2001, he was assigned as a special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for implementing its recommendations. He is now a consultant at McLaughlin Global Associates, LLC.

The Space Council meeting will be held at the National War College at Ft. McNair, Washington, D.C., on October 23 from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET.  It will be webcast on the White House website and aired on NASA TV.

The Space Council is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and its members include the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President’s National Security Adviser, and the Administrator of NASA.