Kathleen Hicks Leading DOD’s Strategy to Integrate Commercial Space Capabilities

Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense and a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker, is leading the development of the Department of Defense’s first commercial space integration strategy.

The DOD is pushing to utilize private-sector space capabilities to maintain an advantage over China, SpaceNews reported.

A DOD spokesperson said Monday that the strategy will ensure that commercial space solutions are available and integrated “during competition, crisis and conflict.”

The office of John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy, is drafting the commercial space integration strategy at Hicks’ direction.

Hicks, a 2023 Wash100 winner, earlier told reporters that private sector partnerships will be critical to maintaining the United States’ military advantage. She also emphasized the need for the Pentagon to encourage companies to innovate for the DOD.

Congress recently received an annual DOD report indicating that China’s space capabilities are rapidly nearing parity with that of the U.S.