President Bush has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith for appointment to the rank of general and assignment as commander of US Joint Forces Command, headquartered at Norfolk, Va. Smith currently serves as deputy commander for US Central Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Smith would replace Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, who is now serving as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The JFCOM position has a NATO responsibility, as well, and NATO already has agreed to name Smith as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation.
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”