Director of Strategy and Strategic Communications , CORE-CSI/ Leader-Commander-Strategist -Air National Guard
A few thoughts about this article.... 1. Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) is a great tool that has opened the door for numerous partnerships around the world. It's especially good for starting and integrating our major non-NATO allies in places like South America and Europe. For example, last summer JCO was a major part of our ability to integrate our friends in South America and demonstrate how the unclassified tools are helpful in command and control of space forces deployed in theater. I was privileged to have JCO as the core C2 node of the first agile combat employment demonstration in SOUTHCOM along with commercial versions of EW assets. It's mobility was highlighted and was leveraged for exercise and real world applications. My Peruvian and other counterparts were thrilled. Hopefully we can continue to expand the integration with this concept. 2. As for "collective security" it is important to build the relationships necessary for such mobility of terrestrial based space capabilities. However, JCO alone, even with EW is insufficient to address the threats happening in space. It can provide SSA and the ability to aid in the protection of earth based assets and bases, but doesn't prevent the attacks in or from space. Not does it create the pretext for victory in a battle for space superiority. From my experience the efforts by Japan and France are good starts with addressing the space attack threats to our mutual critical space infrastructure. Building SSA and SDA capabilities are highly important. However, we must shift our mindset from terrestrial support mode to full combatant mode in from and to space. Space is a theater of war. It always has been. Now with the rapid buildup of space forces by China and Russia...it's only accelerating. France and Japan seem to understand this and are working on fielding their own combat space forces. South Korea is also seemingly interested in defending their own security in space. We must get beyond the idea that our adversaries build weapons but don't plan on using them against us and our friends. Recent history in Ukraine, Red Sea, South China Sea and in space and cyberspace...show this is not the case. The time for leadership in securing our strategic interests in space is now....in fact....it was yesterday. National Institute for Deterrence Studies https://lnkd.in/eWGtrtqX
