Col. Michelle Idle, deputy commander of Space Systems Command, said she looks forward to the implementation of the Space Force Personnel Management Act, which will offer both full-time and part-time active-duty service options to Guardians and Air Force reservists.
“Looking at what skills our people have who have chosen to go part-time and making sure that we’re leveraging those talents and expertise. That’s a huge soapbox for me – to make that work,” Idle said.
“There are a lot of part-time members with good ideas, and the fact that we are trying to do something different with the Space Force is really motivating,” she added.
As SSC celebrates its upcoming third year of inception, Idle highlighted changes that enabled SSC to transition from a center into a field command, including the establishment of individual program executive officers, which is “the right way to get after the threat” from China and other adversaries.
“Having program executive offices each with one leader who is responsible for a specific range of capabilities, making the right business decisions: exploit what we have, buy what we can – either commercially or partnering with another agency – and build what we must,” Idle said.
The organization started under the leadership of Gen. Michael Guetlein, who served as the first commander of SSC, to improve leadership decision-making speed, reduce bureaucracy and build a system-of-systems integration.
Idle said that handing down certain decision-making authorities to individual PEOs has enabled the roles of the commander and deputy commander to focus more on organizing, training and equipping the PEOs, directors and the overall SSC workforce to ensure successful mission execution.
