President Donald Trump has nominated two industry veterans to serve in prominent military space positions.
Top line: Trump has nominated:
- Raytheon VP Erich Hernandez-Baquero, to serve as the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration.
- V2X Chief Growth Officer Roger Mason, to serve as head of the NRO.
Both nominees will need to be confirmed by the Senate before they can get on the job.
Acquisition chief: If confirmed, Hernandez-Baquero would replace Frank Calvelli, who resigned in January 2025 at the end of the Biden administration. (The position was held in an acting capacity until February 2026 by Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, and now by Thomas Ainsworth.)
Hernandez-Baquero’s nomination comes at a time when the administration and Pentagon are reworking the space acquisition process to cut red tape, prioritize speed, and encourage commercial partnerships.
Hernandez-Baquero is a retired Air Force colonel. He currently serves as Raytheon’s VP for space ISR.
Spy sat chief: Mason would succeed NRO Director Chris Scolese, who has led the agency that oversees the nation’s spy sats since 2019.
- Mason previously worked in senior positions at Peraton and the DNI, with a focus on space and national intelligence.
- Scolese, during his almost seven-year tenure, prioritized speed at the agency—and increased the secretive office’s work with private companies. (Scolese also came to the agency after a seven-year tenure as NASA Goddard director.)
“We’re constantly innovating,” Scolese said in September. “We need to do more and more, not only to make the data that we’re bringing down today useful, but to make the data that we bring down in the future not only useful but better.”
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