Lt. Gen. Bill Liquori, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, requirements and analysis at the U.S. Space Force, said a service branch-led interagency team has come up with a draft needs assessment for space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities across the Department of Defense, Breaking Defense reported Friday.
Liquori currently leads the Integrated Process Team that is working on the “needs memo,” which seeks to determine how to divide responsibility between the Intelligence Community and the Space Force when it comes to the development, procurement and operation of ISR satellites.
“This is the first one of a kind, we’re kind of giving it a little bit of time to work through,” he said of the needs analysis.
The IPT conducts ISR assessments and includes representatives from the IC, other military branches, combatant commands and the Joint Staff.
Liquori noted that the needs assessment will be handed over to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council for its review and approval in the next few months. Once approved, the document will be used to help shape DOD’s budget request for fiscal year 2024.
After JROC reviews the document, the Pentagon and the IC will conduct a gap analysis to identify missing capabilities in the space ISR force structure and determine “what is it that the IC is currently planning to budget for and how much of those requirements can they cover, so that we understand the piece that would be complimentary from a Department of Defense perspective.”
