Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency and a previous Wash100 awardee, will resume his duties as head of SDA on Thursday, April 17, Breaking Defense reported Monday.
Table of Contents
William Blauser’s Appointment as Acting SDA Director
In early February, the Air Force appointed William Blauser, deputy director of the Rapid Capabilities Office, as interim director of SDA to address the need for full-time leadership at SDA and Space Systems Command.
Prior to Blauser’s appointment, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of Space Systems Command, led SDA on an acting basis.
Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture
As head of SDA, Tournear oversees efforts to develop, deploy and operate the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, or PWSA.
PWSA is part of the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2, effort and seeks to provide U.S. warfighters and allies with reliable and resilient space capabilities through a layered network of satellites in low Earth orbit.
Related Articles
Team Atlanta has claimed the top spot in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s AI Cyber Challenge, or AIxCC, securing $4 million in prize money for its artificial intelligence-driven cyber reasoning system. The team, including experts from Georgia Tech, Samsung Research and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, outperformed six other finalists in the two-year competition aimed at creating AI systems capable of autonomously detecting and patching vulnerabilities of open-source software, particularly those used in critical infrastructure, including financial systems, public utilities and the health care ecosystem, DARPA said. The agency partnered with AI industry leaders Anthropic, Google,
The Federal Communications Commission has appointed Andy Hendrickson as the chief of its Office of Engineering and Technology. Hendrickson is transitioning from his former post of chief technology officer at the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, the commission said Thursday. As OET head, Hendrickson will serve as FCC’s principal technical adviser on spectrum policy, equipment authorization and keeping regulatory standards apace with the rapid changes in the communications sector, FCC noted. According to his LinkedIn profile, Hendrickson joined the FCC Enforcement Bureau as CTO in October 2024, taking the task of guiding field operations. In his previous role, he also provided the
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order aimed at overhauling the federal government’s grantmaking process. New EO to Prevent Tax Dollars Wastage According to the president Thursday, the new EO aims to end “offensive waste of tax dollars” by establishing a new review process to determine whether grants prioritize national interest. Under the presidential directive, each federal agency will have a senior political appointee tasked with evaluating every funding opportunity announcement and grant award to ensure it will benefit Americans and align with agency priorities. The EO permits the termination of grants that are not consistent with agency priorities, national