1

Chief of Space Operations’ 

Planning Guidance

1

st Chief of Space Operations

CSO Planning Guidance

CSO Priorities

Empower a Lean and Agile Service

Develop Joint Warfighters in 

World Class Teams

Deliver New Capabilities at 

Operationally Relevant Speeds

Expand Cooperation to 

Enhance Prosperity and Security 

Create a Digital Service to 

Accelerate Innovation

“We are forging a warfighting Service that is always above. Our purpose is 

to promote security, assure allies and partners, and deter aggressors by 

demonstrating the capability to deny their objectives and impose costs

upon them. We will ensure American leadership in an ongoing revolution 

of operations in space, and we will be leaders within government to 

achieve greater speed in decision-making and action. We will partner with

and lead others to further responsible actions in, and use of, space to

promote security and enhance prosperity. Should an aggressor threaten 

our interests, America’s space professionals stand ready to fight and win.”

General John W. Raymond
1 CSO Planning Guidance

INTENT

This Chief of Space Operations’ Planning Guidance (CPG)

provides foundational direction for the Space Force to 

advance National and Department of Defense (DoD) 

strategic objectives. This authoritative Service-level 

planning guidance supersedes previous guidance and

provides the context and outline for our new Service 

design. In some areas, the CPG will define specific 

actions, timelines and offices of primary responsibility. In 

other areas, the CPG describes my intent and desired 

outcomes. This guidance is intended to empower space 

professionals at all echelons to take initiative consistent 

with their delegated authority and mission focus to 

implement Service priorities. To enable initiatives, I will 

also specify several efforts that should be deprioritized 

to generate resources for reinvestment. 

This CPG communicates my intent and defines the 

capabilities and culture the USSF will pursue over my 

tenure. I will update intent, expand on guidance and 

review the progress of transformation initiatives via 

Force Design guidance annually. I expect all echelons to 

read, understand and implement this guidance. 

The Space Force has a mandate in national strategy, 

policy, and law to be both pathfinder and protector of 

America’s interests as a space-faring nation. 

The convergence of proliferating technology and 

competitive interests has forever re-defined space from 

a benign domain to one in which we anticipate all 

aspects of human endeavor – including warfare. The 

return of peer, great power competitors has dramatically 

changed the global security environment and space is 

central to that change. 

The United States Space Force is called to organize, 

train, equip, and present forces capable of preserving 

America’s freedom of action in space; enabling Joint

Force lethality and effectiveness; and providing 

independent options – in, from, and to space. 

Demonstrable and persistent military spacepower 

promotes security in the space domain and assures 

partners. Spacepower backstops deterrence by 

communicating America’s ability to impose costs on 

hostile actors and deny adversary objectives. Security 

and stability set conditions for a range of national and 

partner interests in all domains and enhance America’s

long-term competitive advantage and leadership.

While the Industrial Age created our nation’s early

advantage in space, the tools and skillsets of the 

Information Age are required to sustain and extend that 

advantage. The rapidly increasing scale, scope, 

complexity, and pace of space domain operations in 

general, and military space operations in particular,

demand an independent space Service. The change in

policy and law that created the Space Force followed 

closely on the heels of the 2017 National Security 

Strategy and 2018 National Defense Strategy, and their 

bold, future focus informs our force design. We will 

deliver a streamlined, agile, and innovative organization 

that sets a new standard in the Department of Defense.

During this period of transformation, our forces must

continue to deliver the effects our Nation and Joint Force

count on without fail. Commanders responsible for those 

missions will prioritize efforts to ensure they continue 

seamlessly despite the disruptions inevitable during 

Service establishment. This CPG outlines my priorities to 

guide how the Space Force will organize, train, equip, 

integrate, and innovate:

Empower a Lean and Agile Service

Develop Joint Warfighters in World Class Teams 

Deliver New Capabilities at Operationally Relevant Speeds

Expand Cooperation to Enhance Prosperity and Security 

Create aDigital Service to Accelerate Innovation

These priorities will guide Service efforts across all 

echelons, shape performance assessment atHeadquarters 

U.S. Space Force, and frame how we communicate to 

civilian leaders across and outside the DoD. They provide 

a strong foundation for where we want to be as a Service

over the next decade, beyond the tenure of any one CSO, 

Administration, or Congress.

Space Force will offer civilian leaders and Joint 

Commanders options that can be used independently or 

in combination to deter or defeat aggression and achieve 

national objectives. While we will extend and defend 

America’s competitive advantage in peacetime, the

ultimate measure of our readiness is the ability to 

prevail should war initiate in, or extend to space.

America’s Space Force will be Semper Supra, always 

above. We are moving swiftly to establish a lean, agile,

and innovative Service ready to meet the challenges of 

today and the future. We stand ready to protect and 

deter, and to fight and win in freedom’s high frontier.
CSO Planning Guidance 2

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

DESIGN IMPERATIVE

America needs a Space Force able to deter conflict, and 

if deterrence fails, prevail should war initiate in or 

extend to space. Space capabilities enhance the 

potency of all other military forces. Our National 

leadership requires resilient and assured military space

capabilities for sustained advantage in peaceful 

competition, or decisive advantage in conflict or war. 

We will design and build a Space Force to meet three 

cornerstone responsibilities: preserve freedom of action, 

enable Joint lethality and effectiveness, and provide 

independent options – in, from, and to space. We must 

build a force that allows civilian decision makers and 

Joint commanders to fully exploit the space domain to 

achieve National strategic objectives.

The change in the geo-strategic and operating 

environment that compelled the creation of the Space 

Force means that many of our legacy space capabilities 

must be reevaluated for ongoing relevance. Let me be 

clear – if we do not adapt to outpace aggressive 

competitors, we will likely lose our peacetime and

warfighting advantage in space.

The process of designing and building a new Service 

requires productive disruption. We cannot deliver the 

new capabilities the Nation requires while remaining 

indistinguishable from the ways and means of our past. 

I expect commanders and program managers to accept 

moderate risk associated with innovation and 

experimentation to build an agile force that better 

ensures our long-term competitive advantage in space.

Failing to accept the risk that accompanies innovation 

and experimentation will slow capability development 

and ultimately transfer risk to Joint warfighters. I do not 

accept the imposition of risk on warfighters to protect 

bureaucratic processes.

We face twin challenges: we will not be bold enough, or 

that risk-aversion and legacy-oriented processes will 

undermine our efforts. The first challenge is my charge 

to all space professionals – be bold, your leaders and 

your Nation expect it. The second is the responsibility of 

Service senior leaders – lead boldly and inspire bold 

leaders inside and outside the Service.

RISE OF COMPETITVE GREAT POWERS

Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate they 

view space as essential to modern warfare, and view 

counterspace capabilities as potent means to reduce 

U.S. and allied military effectiveness. Modern Chinese 

and Russian space surveillance networks are capable of 

finding, tracking, and characterizing satellites in all earth 

orbits. Both Russia and China are developing systems 

using the electro-magnetic spectrum, cyberspace,

directed energy, on-orbit capabilities, and ground-based 

antisatellite missiles to destroy space-based assets. 

These systems can achieve a range of effects against U.S. 

and allied military, civil and commercial capabilities from 

temporary and reversible, to irreversible degradation. 

In addition to holding our own space capabilities at risk, 

systems fielded by peer competitors increasingly allow 

them to operate with the reach, agility, and lethality that 

U.S. forces once unilaterally enjoyed. Both China and 

Russia continue to improve their space-based 

intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and 

communications capabilities to support long-range killchains that hold U.S. and allied terrestrial forces at risk.

In addition to space capabilities, both China and Russia 

have elevated information superiority and decision 

speed to be central tenants of their doctrine. The ability 

to observe, orient, decide, and direct action at machine 

speeds will revolutionize future military operations. This 

is especially true in space where spacecraft operate at 

speeds and distances orders of magnitude greater than 

terrestrial counterparts. The force that prepares for this 

revolution and reaps its potential will have a significant 

advantage over the force that does not.

PROLIFERATING ACCESS TO SPACE

The rapid growth of the commercial space sector provides 

the United States both new potential partners and 

opportunities to leverage commercial investment to 

enhance our space capabilities. Ubiquitous technology 

reduces barriers to access space for all and introduces

new actors, competitors, and potential adversaries. 

Advantage will go to those who not only create the best 

technologies, but who also best integrate, field, protect, 

and operate them in ways that provide significant military 

advantages.
3 CSO Planning Guidance

MISSION EVOLUTION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

When the space age began, mastery of the most 

advanced disciplines of science, engineering, and 

manufacturing was required to produce a few exquisite 

systems. Early military space systems were designed for 

strategic missions such as detecting ballistic missile 

launches. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union actively 

developed anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities to attack the 

small inventory of U.S. military satellites. From that time 

on, the mission of space professionals had changed to 

include defense of exquisite military space systems.

New technology and the innovation of our operators and 

industry pressed these limited number of high value 

strategic space systems into unforeseen operational and 

tactical applications. The 1991 Gulf War was the first 

“space war” to fully integrate America’s space 

capabilities on the battlefield. The dominant advantage 

that space-based ISR, satellite-based communication 

(SATCOM) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) gave

Coalition forces led potential adversaries to consider 

space systems attractive targets in future conflict. 

Recent resurgence in deployment of modern direct 

assent and co-orbital ASAT capabilities require us to 

develop and deliver offensive and defensive options in 

the near-term, while we transition to a resilient 

architecture able to mitigate attack, assure capabilities, 

and rapidly reconstitute in the mid- to long-term.

Every interaction in space, between military, 

government, civil, and commercial entities creates a 

pattern of behavior that communicates intent and 

establishes, reinforces, or diminishes norms. Our space 

domain awareness capabilities allow us to compare 

intent as communicated by words and behaviors. 

Alignment between what an actor claimsto be doing and 

what we observe, such as who initiates movement to 

proximity with another spacecraft, or who does – or does 

not – respond to requests to maneuver responsibly, 

refines our understanding of an actor’s intent. We will 

actively use interactions, consistent with applicable law, 

to shape norms of behavior that enhance National 

security and reduce opportunity for a competitor or 

potential adversary to misinterpret intent.

Aware of substantial U.S. military strength on the land, 

in and under the sea, and in the air, potential adversaries 

are using asymmetric counters to mitigate U.S. power 

projection. Great power adversaries have used 

aggression and illegal occupation to seize territory, and 

invested heavily in “anti-access and area-denial” (A2/AD) 

capabilities to make the air, sea, and land of their nearabroad inaccessible to an American or Coalition 

intervention. Space capabilities expose the vertical flank 

of the terrestrial A2/AD environment. In the future

multiple missions currently conducted by terrestrial 

forces will shift, in whole or in part, to space. This is 

already underway with tactical ISR and will soon expand 

to other missions. 

Empower a Lean and 

Agile Service

REDUCING BUREAUCRACY

The new design of our Space Force headquarters and Field 

Command structure aligns complementary functions and 

streamlines echelons of command in the deliberate pursuit 

of speed and agility. Space Force will innovate and incubate 

faster, flatter decision and command structures that can be 

refined and applied across the Department of Defense. 

During the analysis that led to the creation of the Space 

Force, Congress identified over 60 offices responsible for 

elements of space policy, oversight, and guidance, with 

nearly 30 more who influence space architecture. We will 

work across the Department to unify and harmonize 

efforts. We will prepare implementation plans to unify

disparate acquisition and sustainment authoritiesfor space 

systems currently distributed across the Army, Navy, and 

Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The imperative to flatten bureaucracy is about more than 

efficient management – it enables the decision-making 

speed and agile implementation that generate advantage 

in competition or conflict. Our current system struggles to 

keep pace with fast evolving threats and technologies. 

Today’s modernization efforts must navigate a slow, 

disaggregated and desynchronized bureaucratic process 

that increases risk for our Joint warfighters. We will 

consolidate and coordinate disparate processes to 

accelerate decisions and reduce that risk.

Reducing bureaucracy does not mean eliminating the 

oversight required by law and policy. Rather, it emphasizes

empowerment through delegation of decision authority to 

the most responsive competent authority, and a high 

degree of accountability. Tight alignment of responsibility, 

accountability, and authority is key to speed and agility.
CSO Planning Guidance 4

HEADQUARTERS U.S. SPACE FORCE DESIGN

Our smaller, more empowered force will be reflected in a 

smaller, more streamlined headquarters structure, reformatted to merge direction of aligned functions under 

four new offices.

The Human Capital Office (HCO) will build and manage our 

workforce of the future. They will develop a human capital 

strategy that emphasizes up-to-date and innovative 

approaches to access, engage, assess, and retain world 

class civilian and military professionals. Their primary 

responsibility is to win the battle for talent, now and in the 

future. They will tailor force development to produce 

expertly trained and effectively led space professionals 

with the skills and mindset to sustain U.S. advantage in 

competition and prevail in war against a peer adversary. 

They will capitalize on our small Service size to enable 

talent management practices that individually develop, 

retain, manage, and cultivate high impact professionals.

The Operations Office will enable our space operations 

and training commands. They will oversee unit and 

capability readiness and develop force presentation 

options for the Secretary of the Air Force. They will 

integrate intelligence and operational policy to outpace 

threats and sustain a high-end ready spacecrew program; 

direct integrated analysis to assess performance of Space 

Force systems, personnel, and processes; and ensure the 

CSO can manage the readiness of forces. In addition, they 

will develop and represent USSF positions as Service 

operations deputy in support of the CSO as a Joint Chief.

Under the Operations Office, the USSF Senior Intelligence 

Officer will build a space ISR enterprise to support 

operations, inform Service design and development, and 

enhance civilian and military decisions.

The Strategy and Resources Office (SRO) will drive USSF 

strategy, planning, and programming to ensure our force 

is resourced to succeed. They will lead USSF capability 

development, serve as resource champion for space 

capabilities, and influence the design of the national space 

architecture. The SRO will lead coordination with 

Combatant Commands to ensure the USSF POM 

position optimizes Joint effectiveness and lead 

partner engagement to ensure complementary allied, 

commercial and civil capability development. 

In order to accelerate our Service transformation to a datadriven “digital service,” we have created a new Technology 

and Innovation Office (TIO). The TIO will direct USSF 

innovation and incorporation of advanced technology. In 

addition, the TIO will work with the HCO to drive the 

technical culture and competencies of our Space 

professionals. The TIO will ensure the USSF has the data 

infrastructure and machine augmentation to embrace 

cutting edge information age organizational practice. 

The USSF Director of Staff will generate a comprehensive,

yet succinct hierarchy of business rules and directivesthat

define roles and responsibilities within the headquarters 

enterprise. They will publish directives on behalf of the 

CSO defining the scope and sequence of staff actions. 

I expect the Chiefs of these offices and Director of Staff 

to make service-level decisions aligned with this 

guidance and keep me informed through candid, timely 

communication. 

FIELD COMMANDS

Like our forward-looking headquarters structure, our 

field command structure flattens our force structure 

from five echelons to three and reflects a missionfocused force design.

The Space Operations Command (SpOC) will be the 

primary force provider of space forces. The SpOC 

generates ready space forces for presentation to the Joint 

Force via the Commander of Space Forces 

(COMSPACEFOR). 

The Space Systems Command (SSC) is responsible for 

developing, acquiring, and fielding effective and 

resilient space capabilities. SSC will be responsible for 

developmental testing, launch, on-orbit checkout, 

sustainment, and maintenance of USSF space systems, 

as well as integration with other space development 

activities including coordinated capability 

development with multi-national partners. In addition, 

SSC will provide oversight and integration of USSF 

science and technology initiatives. SSC will lead efforts 

to adapt our acquisition culture, workforce, and practice to 

match the pace of partners who are significantly 

accelerating space technology development.

Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) 

will educate and train space professionals and conduct 

operational test and evaluation of systems in order to 

deliver combat-ready space forces prepared to 

succeed in our warfighting domain. While currently 

provisionally organized as a Delta, it will grow to a 
5 CSO Planning Guidance

full-strength field command in fiscal year 2021. Our 

very near-term doctrine development, training, and 

education paradigms depend heavily on Air Education 

and Training Command and Air University. STARCOM, 

in coordination with the HCO, will develop options to 

establish a more independent system of doctrine and

professional military education by 2023.

DISTRIBUTED DECISION AUTHORITY, “COMMAND 

BY NEGATION,” AND MISSION COMMAND

Agile decision-making capability must extend outside 

headquarters and staff structures as well. Commanders, 

directors, and supervisors at the lowest competent and 

authorized level should be empowered to make 

decisions. Clear communication of delegated authorities

is critical to empower effective and timely decision 

making. I expect headquarters elements to publish, and 

commanders to understand such authorities. 

The potential speed and scale of space warfare means a 

traditional “command by affirmation” style, where a 

subordinate echelon assumes they are limited to 

narrowly prescribed authorities unless explicitly 

authorized by higher echelons, likely incurs a dangerous 

disadvantage. Therefore, I direct a default command 

style of “command by negation” where subordinate 

echelons are expected to default to action except where 

a higher echelon has specifically reserved authority.

In order to capitalize on unique opportunities of our 

small mission-focused Service, and to enhance 

conditions for initiative at all levels, I am directing use of 

mission command by the Space Force. Joint Publication 

3-0 describes mission command as “built on leaders at all 

echelons who exercise disciplined initiative and act 

aggressively and independently to accomplish the 

mission,” and that aligns with the bold, agile, innovative 

force we are developing. We will use “mission-type 

orders” (MTO) to direct subordinate echelon action, and 

work with USSPACECOM to implement MTOs to enhance 

resilient and responsive command and control of 

operational space forces.

Soon, Commanders at all levels must be prepared to 

engage in combat operations enhanced by artificial 

intelligence to observe, orient, decide and act at 

machine speeds. Anticipating the incorporation of 

automation into our decision making and C2 structures, 

STARCOM will prepare Commanders with the skill to 

develop and publish MTOs that are both human and 

machine executable. We will train our space 

professionals and the intelligent systems that support 

them to make deliberate, conditions-based delegations 

of authority or transitions between human-on-the-loop, 

human-in-the-loop, or autonomous modes of operation, 

consistent with appropriate human judgement, to 

maintain decision advantage under contested conditions.

Develop Joint Warfighters 

in World Class Teams

A NEW KIND OF JOINT WARFIGHTER

Every Service presents warfighters with a common sense of 

duty to Nation and devotion to mission. Every Service also 

presents warfighters with characteristics that reflect their 

unique domain. We are America’s space warfighters. We 

share expertise and technical fluency with other spaceoriented organizations, but space professionals are charged 

with mastering both space domain knowledge and unique

operational art to achieve military purposes. The character 

of war in the space domain is fundamentally unique from 

warfare in other domains. This necessitates unique 

systems, tactics, and doctrine, and a dedicated cadre of 

warfighting professionals with specialized education, 

training, and experience to prevail in combat.

A VALUES-DRIVEN SERVICE

Core values are our Polaris. Our success depends on a 

solid foundation of shared personal values to enable

agility, innovation, empowerment, mission command,

and partnership. We expect all members to understand, 

exemplify and reinforce our core values. 

Until we develop and finalize thoughts on core values 

with insights from Space Force leaders at all levels, we 

will keep as our foundation the Air Force core values –

“integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all 

we do.”

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Our Space Force is charged with protecting the people 

and ideals of the United States. Inclusion of professionals 

with diverse backgrounds, skills, and experiences

enhances our ability to achieve national security 

objectives by increasing our ability to re-frame complex 

problems and inoculate against groupthink and bias. 
CSO Planning Guidance 6

We have a unique opportunity for a fresh start to create 

new policies, from dress and appearance, to family 

needs, personal development, and facility standards that 

are more consistent with inclusion efforts. The Space 

Force will not sustain an industrial-era accession 

paradigm that placed a premium on conformity and deemphasized members’ unique culture and heritage. 

We value members for the culture they bring with them

into the Service and believe people of all backgrounds 

who are inspired by our mission and committed to our 

standards make the Space Force stronger. We will not 

accept either conscious or unconscious bias in our midst 

and support policies that actively guard against 

discrimination. 

INFORMATION AGE RECRUITING AND RETENTION

Future growth projections and missions require 

additional space professionals and we want the best and 

brightest. In order to meet the demand, the HCO will lead

efforts to develop recruiting partnerships at institutions 

that are recognized pipelines for technical talent from 

diverse backgrounds. The HCO will also develop a robust 

marketing campaign that encompasses experiential, 

partnership, media, and literature marketing to increase 

overall public and pre-accession interest in space. We will 

not passively wait for the best to respond to marketing, 

but actively use merit and diversity-based criteria to seek 

the talent we want.

Our efforts to manage, develop, and retain this talent 

will be central to the long-term viability and success of 

the Service. Our small, flat organization allows for 

deliberate individualized development focused on 

building space warfighters with the necessary 

experience and skills to prevail in combat while giving 

them the opportunities and benefits they seek for a 

fulfilling career. The HCO will maximize the full range of 

existing civilian and military personnel authorities, 

including those contained in recent changes to Law such 

as Modified Direct Hire Authorities. 

We will monitor competition for talent from other DoD 

and civilian organizations looking to hire USSF space 

professionals. We will provide developmental 

opportunities for space professionals across all U.S. 

space sectors, including national security, civil, and 

commercial. We will recruit professionals with 

recognized expertise and unique experience able to 

perform immediately, as well as to build a junior cadre 

with the potential to grow into future leaders and 

innovators. We will create opportunities to crossflow

high caliber personnel from industry into government 

positions and USSF members to industry or other 

government agencies to remain current in technology 

and best practices. 

REALISTIC TRAINING

We will make every effort to train in realistic, contested 

conditions. Our forces are always in competition, and our 

capabilities are likely among the first targets of an 

aggressor’s action. In both competition and conflict 

adversaries will seek to impose fog and friction through 

degraded systems, compromised networks, false 

information, and disrupted communication. We will 

develop and acquire in hi-fidelity simulators, virtual and 

augmented reality, and artificial intelligence to improve 

warfighting proficiency against a thinking, reacting 

adversary and foster the critical thinking and decisionmaking skills required in combat.

Commanders at all levels must ensure crew commanders 

and Mission Directors are proficient at applying 

warfighting concepts like acceptable level of risk, selfdefense, risk to mission, and risk to force, and prepared 

to make sound tactical decisions in a contingency. We will 

recognize and reward expert system management and 

prudent risk acceptance to meet commander’s intent.

CRITICAL THINKING AND COMMUNICATION

A lean, agile, and mission-focused force requires a high 

degree of connection, collaboration, and communication 

at all levels. We value a culture that actively shares 

insights and information, and provides context up and 

down echelons of command to ensure our space 

professionals understand their mission, commander’s 

intent, and updates that align evolving requirements. We 

value clear verbal and written communication oriented to 

inform decisions and implement actions.

We also value design approaches to critical thinking, and 

data-driven problem solving. Over the next year, the 

Director of Staff will publish guidance that establishes a 

standard for how space professionals approach 

structured data-driven decision-making. Like MTOs, a 

standardized process is not intended to constrain thinking 

but rather to enhance our ability to rapidly analyze 

complex problems, develop and evaluate courses of 

action, and select a best option.
7 CSO Planning Guidance

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

As the lead military Service for space, we will foster the 

synchronization and integration of space warfighting 

doctrine across our sister Services and National, Joint,

and Combined operations. We will prioritize training and 

education courses for space professionals and optimize 

coursework to keep pace with advancing space 

employment demands. Space professionals will also gain 

experience from advanced education, selected space 

duty assignments, and broadening tours in Joint and 

Coalition environments.

In order to build tactical depth and operational 

leadership in our space professionals, we will focus 

leader development on specialization in our seven 

spacepower disciplines. We will build experts in these 

disciplines through advanced training and education that 

expands upon the space warfighting fundamentals 

taught at Undergraduate Space Training. STARCOM will 

develop the unique curricula required by the first four 

disciplines of Orbital Warfare, Space Electromagnetic 

Warfare, Space Battle Management, and Space Access 

and Sustainment. In addition, STARCOM will facilitate 

inclusion of space-unique content for Military 

Intelligence, Cyber Operations, and Engineering and 

Acquisition career fields for individuals intending to join 

or support Space Force units.

Beyond formal education, every space professional is 

expected to improve themselves and their teammates to 

better contribute to their teams. Leaders at all levels 

have a responsibility to enable and encourage the growth 

of their subordinates. We embrace a growth mindset 

and lifelong learning, allowing us to evolve and adapt to 

changing environments faster than our adversaries. 

COMMITMENT TO FAMILIES

Our ability to retain diverse, talented and highly skilled 

space professionals is directly linked to our ability to 

meet the needs and expectations of their families. Just 

as we support the development and growth of Space 

Force members, we support the development and 

growth of Space Force families. We will work with our 

partners in the Air Force to improve access to childcare, 

housing, employment opportunities, and resources that 

make service in the Space Force attractive. We will 

develop and employ human capital management tools to

reduce the tension between a member’s military career

and professional opportunities for their family members.

Deliver New Capabilities at 

Operationally Relevant Speeds

ANALYTICAL INSIGHTS DRIVING FORCE DESIGN

Service-level wargames over the past few years have 

focused on peer adversary conflict scenarios. Insights 

from these wargames inform future force development 

and highlight the potential for space warfighting 

capabilities to dramatically enhance the effectiveness, 

efficiency, and flexibility of our Joint Force.

Wargames have shown in any great power conflict,our

alliances and partnerships are an essential factor to

achieve success. We will enable and defend our allies

as they in turn provide capabilities that complement 

our own. 

The absence of features equivalent to national borders in 

space means there is no sovereign territory separating 

forces. While separation of terrestrial forces creates 

opportunity for early warning, defense by maneuver, and 

deterrence by credible escalation capabilities, the 

current lack of equivalent norms in space allows actors to 

operate at any location in the domain and at any distance 

from other spacecraft. This may allow a potential 

attacker to maneuver close to other space assets, from 

where they can execute a “first mover” surprise attack.

This creates a potentially destabilizing “use it or lose it” 

dilemma that accelerates escalation. To avoid this 

dilemma, our force design must reduce vulnerability to a 

first mover attack and provide calibrated escalation options 

for Joint Commanders to seize or regain initiative.

Further, wargaming shows that space forces have inherent 

vulnerabilities in multiple domains. Space operations 

depend on orbital, terrestrial, and link segments. Each of 

these offers an attack surface, and adversaries will target 

vulnerable segments to degrade the larger architecture. We 

must ensure Joint Commanders are prepared to defend 

critical space assets that enable Joint Forces.

PROGRAMMATIC DIRECTION

The ability to prevail in conflict is foundational to all other 

Space Force missions. While America’s legacy military 

space capabilities have been in the fight enabling combat 

effects for decades, our systems have not been consistently 

designed for war that initiates in, or extends to, the space 

domain. Adapting legacy designs will not produce effective 
CSO Planning Guidance 8

systems for conflict because combat considerations favor

fundamentally different design and engineering choices.

Our programs of record will deliver Joint Warfighting

capabilities, providing Combatant Commanders 

military capability to achieve operational objectives. 

We will enable Combatant Commanders to protect 

and defend the people and homeland of the United 

States and our interests and allies. I am willing to take 

risk in legacy system capacity and availability in order 

to create recapitalization opportunities for nextgeneration resilient and defensible systems. Our 

force design must reflect data-driven, threat-informed 

choices that are stressed against the forecast

capabilities of potential great power adversaries.

In order to establish a consistent structure for 

developing programmatic positions, I am establishing 

a Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC) built on 

the foundation of the Enterprise Strategy and 

Architectures Office (ESAO) and the Space Security 

and Defense Program (SSDP). The SWAC will develop 

future force design options for consideration and CSO 

decision. SWAC analysis will support effective 

communication with Executive and Legislative 

resourcing and oversight functions.

To ensure our force design offers the Joint Force 

assured effects, the SWAC will analyze opportunities 

to enhance the resilience of legacy systems as an 

interim step to fielding a force designed to operate in 

a warfighting domain. The SWAC will develop future 

force structures that meet evolving mission 

requirements, are resilient to the threat, and are costinformed. The SWAC will execute Service wargaming 

functions that help to formulate these architectures, 

as well as understand their interplay between USSF 

and the Joint Force. SWAC designs inform the CPG,

annual “Force Design” updates, Service requirements, 

and programming options validated by the SRO.

Programmatic options will consider partner and 

hybrid architectures where appropriate, including 

with other U.S. government agencies. In the case of 

space-based environmental monitoring, some tactical 

satellite communications, and positioning, navigation 

and timing, civil and commercial partner services 

provide a degree of capability that may allow further 

re-investment in next-generation warfighting 

systems. 

In the near term, the Space Force benefits from 

government and commercial partnerships to rapidly 

enhance capabilities in Space Launch and Sustainment 

and Space Domain Awareness. We will prioritize 

investments in Orbital Warfare, Space 

Electromagnetic Warfare, and tactical intelligence

portfolios to enable effective defensive options and 

prompt offensive capability to deter adversaries from 

initiating conflict in or extending conflict into space. If 

deterrence fails, these capabilities posture us to fight 

and win in space.

OPERATIONALLY RELEVANT ACQUISITION SPEED

While our mission in space has evolved dramatically, 

shifting from strategic to operational and finally 

tactical warfighting, our acquisition paradigm has 

remained largely static. Current acquisition processes 

often require years from validating capability gaps to 

new fielded capabilities, even when the technologies 

involved are well known and program risks are low. 

With DAF support, we will seek new acquisition authorities 

critical to enable the Space Force to streamline 

requirements validation; accelerate decision speed; 

maximize budget execution, stability, flexibility, and 

efficiency; increase program capability; and accelerate 

contracting speed. These changes will allow us to outpace 

adversaries unencumbered by industrial-era acquisition 

and oversight paradigms and consider new technology 

opportunities in which we can capitalize. This requires new 

delegated authorities in law or policy in some cases, and 

more effective utilization of existing authorities in others.

We commit to providing the transparency required for 

effective oversight by Congress and other stakeholders.

ENHANCING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

According to the 2017 National Security Strategy 

“adversaries and competitors [have become] adept at 

operating below the threshold of open military conflict and 

at the edges of international law.” Adversaries actively 

create and exploit “gray zones” in which they achieve 

political objectives through actions that avoid traditional 

triggers for conflict where the United States enjoys clear 

military advantage. The Space Force will provide unique 

space-enabled options, tailored to support operational 

commanders, to shrink gray zones. Space Domain 

Awareness, for instance, enables attribution that reveals

illegal or hostile action and sets conditions for a better 

informed and legitimized response.
9 CSO Planning Guidance

Our design for force transformation must consider 

opportunities to enhance America’s civil and commercial

spacepower. Both Space Policy Directive-4 and statutory 

provisions of Title 10 task the USSF to protect America’s 

interests, including commercial interests in space. The 

recent Space Force 2020 Space Industrial Base Report

described a role the Space Force can play to help promising 

commercial partners thrive through high-risk initial 

ventures to validate high-potential new technologies. 

Space Force will use strategic investments to cultivate a 

strong, diverse and competitive American space industrial 

base. Civil and commercial developments that pave the 

way for exploration and commercialization beyond nearEarth orbit will both generate technology that benefits the 

USSF and require an order of magnitude expansion of our

ability to sense, communicate and act to protect and 

defend American interests in cis-lunar space and beyond.

Expand Cooperation to 

Enhance Prosperity and Security

Evolved and expanding partnerships will improve our 

enterprise capability, capacity, and resilience. We will build 

on existing relationships and identify opportunities to 

integrate partner space capabilities into our enterprise.

JOINT INTEGRATION

Our closest partner will be the Air Force, on whom we will 

rely for enablers to accomplish tasks common to both of 

our missions. The Air Force will operate our bases, help us 

communicate throughout our global footprint, and deliver 

care and servicesfor space professionals and their families.

We will undertake deliberate effort to enhance partnership

with all Services by participating in both Joint and Service 

wargames and capability development efforts to 

understand their space equities, multi-domain concepts, 

enabling requirements and integration opportunities.

Space professionals must be expert integrators and 

communicators to ensure Joint counterparts in all Services 

and at all levels understand fast evolving space capabilities

and threats, and their operational implications. To ensure 

Joint Force commanders are better equipped to utilize 

space domain-unique warfighting capabilities the COO will 

lead engagement to update space training modules in the 

JFMCC, JFLCC, JFACC, and JTF training courses to increase 

awareness of space warfighting capabilities as both 

independent and integrated operational options. In 

addition, over the next year STARCOM will work with the 

National Security Space Institute to develop updated space 

warfighting training modules in fulfillment of 

USSPACECOM joint training requirements.

In order to ensure service members from multi-Service 

backgrounds can better consume and contribute to USSF 

planning and direction, I am directing use of Joint 

planning methodology throughout the Space Force. In 

addition, we will template to Joint style, formats, and

terminology unless explicitly required by DAF direction. 

This ensures a common standard and prepares USSF 

members for integration with Joint forces. 

INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY INTEGRATION 

The need for space domain intelligence continues to 

increase in the face of changing missions and emerging

threats. The U.S. Space Force will continue to strengthen its

partnerships across the Intelligence Community, especially

with the Defense Intelligence Agency, National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and

National Security Agency. Current cooperation is largely 

focused on the mission to protect and defend assets and

must grow into operational collaboration at multiple levels. 

Today we are building deeper alignment across multiple 

agencies. In the future we will develop and expand shared 

strategies that synchronize national security space 

capabilities and operations to detect and characterize

threats, defeat attacks, and respond to aggression.

As a focal point for space domain intelligence, we will seek 

to re-align space-oriented functions of the National Air and 

Space Intelligence Center to form a co-located National 

Space Intelligence Center (NSIC). In concert with the Space 

Force ISR Enterprise, the NSIC will provide a framework for 

growth to meet anticipated demand for increased space 

intelligence at foundational, tactical, operational and 

strategic levels. 

MULTI-NATIONAL COOPERATION

Our efforts to deter and promote stability are enhanced by 

a multi-national effort. We will leverage ally and coalition 

partner capabilities in operations and acquisitions to 

identify and close gaps in our space enterprise. We will take 

measures to strengthen our allies' space capabilities. This 

includes cooperative capability development, professional 

education and training, and operational coordination and 

liaison.As we expand our network of partners, we will strive 

to be the partner of choice, providing the collective security 

for all those who join alongside us.
CSO Planning Guidance 10

When space was a less contested domain, America could 

prefer security at the expense of collaboration. The 

evolution of the security environment requires greater 

interoperability with partners and allies, many of whom 

have already integrated with U.S. combat capability in 

other domains. We will reevaluate data sharing 

agreements and security paradigms that often limit 

coalition interoperability in space. We will expand partner 

participation in operations and capability development in 

order to reduce cost, increase resilience, and accelerate 

capability modernization. 

Our approach to partnering also includes U.S. 

industry, civil organizations, academia, laboratories, and 

agencies. Key enablers for this effort are the scalable 

architectures and open standards which will also allow 

rapid, cost-effective integration of all desired partners. 

Create a Digital Service to 

Accelerate Innovation 

ESTABLISHING A DIGITAL SERVICE

Data and information, along with the skills and tools to 

put them to use, and drive to innovate will guide and 

accelerate our decision-making and permeate all the key 

activities of the Space Force. 

Harnessing the best that technology has to offer and 

applying it in ways that can outpace the advances of our 

adversaries require us to change our capability 

development processes. We will lead efforts to 

implement Digital Engineering standards for Space 

Force acquisition programs. This will include adopting 

digital twins and model-based systems engineering, and 

expanding agile software development and DevSecOps 

to expedite capability development and improve 

acquisition outcomes. America’s most successful 

companies, including hardware manufacturers, logistics 

providers, software companies, and “big data” analytics 

producers, employ these techniques to create 

competitive advantage for their businesses. These 

activities are also required of America’s Space Force, and 

we will take industry’s best practices, tools and 

benchmarks to create similar agility in military space 

development and operations. 

Effectively harnessing technology requires the Space 

Force to foster and grow a Digital Workforce. Our 

personnel must be comfortable with technology and 

have ability to apply and adapt it for our national security 

objectives. They should be capable of thinking and acting 

in the “data space,” prioritizing data-centric solutions 

over product-centric processes. In addition, we will 

develop organic modeling acumen among USSF members 

to guide our digital efforts. This will make us more

capable and engaged partners with industry and allow us 

to implement a more digital acquisition paradigm using 

modeling and simulation. Digital fluency will begin with 

state-of-the-art training environments and is sustained 

through continued exposure and implementation of 

digitally supported decision-making throughout their 

careers. 

With digital engineering and fluency as foundational 

elements, we will drive Digital Operations across our 

space mission sets to increase all domain awareness and 

close the kill chain faster with more robust, informed C2 

decision options. In doing so, we will fully exploit modern 

commercially-based digital capabilities including 

software defined networks, data analytics, machine 

intelligence, cloud edge computing, and modular plug-nplay systems. Digital applies not only to our weapon 

systems but to our business processes as well, and the 

Space Force will apply similar techniques to enable a 

Digital Headquarters. Full implementation of our digital 

strategy will involve investments in Digital Engineering

data and analytics infrastructure to ensure all our data is 

discoverable, accessible, understandable, linked, and 

trusted across multiple security levels. 

Automation and autonomy will accelerate and 

streamline our operations and provide analytics to 

optimize mission and headquarters effectiveness. 

Applying machine learning and trusted levels of

autonomy will allow our personnel to focus on datadriven decision-making instead of manually sorting and 

sense-making the vast amounts of data created by 

operations in space.

Our investments in this digital campaign will be 

effective if they allow us to make better use of our 

human capital. By automating tasks that are repetitive, 

time-consuming, or that do not require application of 

human intelligence, we will create the time to train, 

educate, wargame, and develop a world-class fighting 

force. This will also give us an advantage in recruiting and 

retaining space professionals who expect to work with 

cutting edge cognitive tools. The TIO will lead automation 

and digitization efforts over the next year to generate a

15% enhancement in the amount of dwell time available 

for advanced training.
11 CSO Planning Guidance

Summary

Space is a vital national interest. Activities on land, at sea, 

in the air, through cyberspace, and in the 

electromagnetic spectrum all depend on space 

superiority. The nation established the U.S. Space Force 

to ensure freedom of action for the United States in, 

from, and to space. The strategic environment demands 

we act boldly now to build a Service designed to act with 

speed and decisiveness to ensure the United States 

maintains its advantage in the domain. 

By executing this guidance, we will support a position of 

strategic stability, U.S. advantage in space, and a space 

warfighting posture that deters aggression and ensures 

Joint and Coalition warfighters can employ forces in the 

time, place, manner, and domain of our choosing.

 

Whilenot all encompassing,thisCPGissufficient toprovide 

clear guidance on the way forward. I expect all uniformed 

and civilian space professionals, and USAF personnel 

assigned to USSF units and staffs, to read and begin 

implementing this guidance immediately. Soon, the USSF 

Director of Staff will publish an implementation plan to 

accompany this guidance that offers specified and 

implied tasks derived from the CPG, the officesofprimary

responsibility,andtimelines. 

This CPG identifies those characteristics and capabilities

within the force that must evolve. We do not have the 

luxury of delay for further analysis. We will move out to 

build the Service our nation expects and needs. I am 

excited to join you in this journey. 

JOHN W. RAYMOND

General, USSF

Chief of Space Operations