OCTOBER 24, 2024 – Citing the growing criticality of effective, ready and reliable space capabilities in an era of Great Power Competition, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, Space Systems Command commander, has authored and released his command plan highlighting the organizational improvements necessary to pave the way forward for excellence.
Garrant, joined by U.S. Space Force Chief Master Sgt. Jacqueline Sauvé, SSC senior enlisted leader, introduced his plan to the broader field command workforce today as part of his Ask Me Anything (AMA) forum series, which focuses on two-way communication on various topics such as changes, challenges and improvements to the command.
“What you’ll see when you read this plan is that everything is aligned to focus on our culture and our stakeholders, both within and outside of the command, so that we can maintain our vigilance towards the future,” Garrant said. “The people of this command are the drivers behind the mission, and it’s important that we know how we need to collectively work together to get after it.”
Built on input from leadership across the command and program offices, the plan places emphasis on improving foundational organizational aspects rooted in three guiding tenets—deliver combat-credible, ready and resilient capabilities; establish a world-class culture to recruit, develop and retain exceptional people and modernize the command structure to maximize effectiveness.
“I am shifting the command’s strategic focus to optimize the way we organize, train and equip you for the effective delivery of dominant space capabilities on operationally relevant timelines,” Garrant stated. “We will further the excellence of our organization and people by improving foundational competencies like warfighting culture, talent development, resource allocation, quality of life and connection.”
As part of improving connections, the plan also stresses the importance of relationships between SSC and its broad array of stakeholders including SSC’s military, civilian and contractor workforce; national-level government; combatant commands and service components; Department of Defense and Allied nation development partners; host facilities; industry development partners and service providers.
“SSC must invest our time and attention toward purposeful engagement with stakeholders,” Garrant said. “Efforts across the command have been doing just that but we must continue to find ways that generate valuable avenues to deliver against the toughest problem sets together.”
Garrant closed out the AMA forum with a call-to-action to the SSC workforce, charging them with the task to determine what their role is within the command plan’s path forward.
“Find yourself in this plan,” Garrant stated. “Know how, where and why you fit into the greater picture of SSC. Being able to connect to that is an important part of how we collectively drive the organizational change and culture we want to see.”
A summary of the plan and the full document are available here.
By Linda Kane
Space Systems Command Publics Affairs