Derek Tournear
Director, Space Development Agency
The Space Development Agency was created to unify and integrate the Defense Department’s space development efforts, monitor the future space architecture, and accelerate the development of new military space capabilities.
As director, Derek Tournear has extensive experience in space development, having held leadership positions in government and industry. He previously served as the director of Harris Space & Intelligence research and development; as a senior program manager at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and as program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Prior to his most recent role, Tournear was assistant director of research and development for space in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, where he coordinated all DOD efforts in space.
Why Watch
At the Navy League’s 2023 Sea Air Space Conference and Exposition in Washington, D.C., Tournear talked about resiliency in space and how SDA is delivering resilience capabilities to warfighters.
“The primary aspect that we’re looking at from SDA’s model is we want to make sure that we can provide those ships at sea the connectivity they need,” he said.
One of those solutions is SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture concept, which reduces the threat of adversaries shooting down SDA’s satellites and cutting off connectivity. SDA is also investing heavily in resources to protect systems and satellites against cyber threats and supply chain threats.