6th Prague Space Security Conference

Roger W. Robinson, Jr. is Chairman and Co-Founder of the Prague Security Studies Institute in the Czech Republic and Executive Director of PSSI Washington Inc. He was formerly Senior Director of International Economic Affairs at the Reagan National Security Council, where he was the architect of the secret economic and financial strategy for the take-down of the Soviet Union. He later served as Chairman of the Congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission for the bulk of 2001-2006. Prior to his government service, Mr. Robinson was a Vice President in the International Department of the Chase Manhattan Bank with responsibility for Chase’s loan portfolios in the USSR, Central/Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia. He also served as a personal staff assistant to then-Chase Chairman David Rockefeller for some three years. Mr. Robinson is currently President & CEO of RWR Advisory Group, a data services, research and risk management firm that specializes in assessing Chinese and Russian risk factors, particularly with regard to their presence in the U.S. capital markets.

Prior to forming the firms referenced above, Mr. Robinson served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Congressionally-mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission for much of the time from 2001 to 2006.  He also served as Senior Director of International Economic Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) from March 1982 until September 1985.  Between January 1984 and April 1985, Mr. Robinson served as Executive Secretary of the Senior Interdepartmental Group-International Economic Policy, a Cabinet-level body that reported through the NSC to the President.  As Senior Director, Mr. Robinson had responsibility for all economic, financial, trade and energy relationships of the United States worldwide for NSC.  He was also the principal architect of the economic and financial strategy for the take-down of the Soviet Union.

Prior to joining the NSC staff, Mr. Robinson was a Vice President in the International Department of the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City.  As a banker, he had responsibilities for Chase’s loan portfolios in the USSR, Eastern and Central Europe and Yugoslavia for five years.  He also served for some two and a half years as a personal staff assistant to former Chase Chairman David Rockefeller and earlier on assignment with the Chase branch in Tokyo.

Mr. Robinson has published extensively on security-related risk in the global capital markets and East-West economic and financial relations.  He has served as an expert witness on numerous occasions before both Senate and House Committees.  In addition, he is a frequent radio commentator and has made numerous national broadcast appearances over the past thirty years.

Mr. Robinson holds a B.A. from Duke University and an M.A. from the Elliott School of George Washington University.  Between 1986 and 1993, Mr. Robinson served as a member of the Board of Visitors at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University.

He served in the Chamber of Deputies for four years as Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security. In addition, he was a member of the Standing Committee on Hybrid Threats, the Subcommittee on Defence, Cyber and Security Policy and Strategic Concepts of the Czech Republic and the Subcommittee on Migration and Asylum Policy. He focused mainly on issues of energy and international security and hybrid threats.

Before entering politics, he pursued a private sector career in banking IT, having worked for McKinsey & Company, Euro RSCG, ZOOT, Total Solutions and Moro Systems.

He was born in Prague, where he completed grammar school. Later he graduated in International Territorial Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, and spent a year at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Kasai is the Director-General at the National Space Policy Secretariat of the Cabinet Office of Japan. Before, he served as the Deputy Director-General at the Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In 2018, Mr. Kasai started working as the Director of the General Coordination Division in the Japan Patent Office. Between 2015 and 2018, he was the Director for Industry and Employment at the Cabinet Office’s Economic and Fiscal Management Bureau. Earlier in his career, he served as the Director at the Industry Revitalization Division of the Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and also as the Counsellor at the Fourth Department at the Cabinet Legislation Bureau. In 2009, he was appointed Special Assistant to Director-General at the Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Mr. Kasai joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in Japan in 1990.

Mr. Kasai holds a Masters’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Tokyo.

Tomáš Kopečný, Deputy Minister of Defence, currently heads the Industrial Cooperation Division. Mr. Kopečný, as an expert on international industrial cooperation and defence market, is dedicated to strengthening of Czech defence industry, strategic partnerships in defence research and development, and continuous build-up of Czech defence industrial and technological base within the European defence framework. He holds an advanced MA degree (PhDr.) in Security Studies from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague. As an exchange student, he also attended the McGill University in Canada and did a professional internship at NATO within the team of the Special Advisor to NATO Secretary General and the Public Diplomacy Division. His prior working experience covers various positions within the Czech Ministry of Defence ranging from the Advisor to the First Deputy Minister on Africa to Head of the Industrial Cooperation Division.

Carine Claeys is the EU Special Envoy for Space in the European External Action Service (EEAS) since 2019.

She is Head of the EEAS Space Task Force (now SecDefPol.5 Space) since its inception in 2015. In this capacity, she ensures that the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR) can exercise his operational responsibilities regarding the Union’s response to threats to or through the systems and services deployed under the EU Space Programme and regarding the functioning of the EU Satellite Centre (SatCen); she advises the EEAS Secretary-General on all space matters of EU interest, in particular those having an international, as well as a security and defence, dimension; she chairs the Board of the SatCen, as the representative of the HR.

Before the EEAS was established, Carine Claeys served in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. From 2005 to 2011, she was head of the „Security of space tools“ cell (Galileo, GMES – then Copernicus) in the EU Joint Situation Centre. Before that, she was responsible for maritime transport and for intermodal transport and networks in the Directorate-General for Transport (2000-2005). She worked in several other sectors of this administration since 1992, including energy, human rights, United Nations, drugs, terrorism, agriculture, and enlargement.

Carine Claeys holds a PhD in political science, a Master’s degree in business engineering, a Master’s degree in international relations, and a Master’s degree in development cooperation.

On 16 October 2020, Rodrigo da Costa took up his duties as Executive Director of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), formerly the European GNSS Agency (GSA). Prior to this, he was the Galileo Services Programme Manager from March 2017.

Before joining the GSA, Rodrigo da Costa held several senior project management, business development, and institutional key account management positions in the space industry, in the areas of human space flight, exploration, launchers and R&D.

Rodrigo da Costa holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the “Instituto Superior Tecnico” in Lisbon, a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Delft, and an MBA from the EuroMBA consortium of Business Schools.

Major General (FRA-AF) Michel Friedling is graduated from the French Air Force Academy (year 1986) as a fighter pilot and obtained a degree in aeronautics engineering. He exercised different levels of command and responsibilities in operational units, flying Mirage F1 and Mirage 2000, mainly in Cambrai AFB, to include several deployments in Africa, Balkans and Middle East.

Graduated from the War College in 2001, he took command of a Fighter Squadron in Mont-de-Marsan Aid Force Base. From 2001 to 2004, his unit prepared the entry into service of the Rafale and managed the operational testing of all new weapon systems and armaments delivered to the French Air Force.

He then served five years in the Plans Department of the French Air Force HQ in charge of capability development and multinational cooperation on capabilites.

In 2009, he took command of Saint-Dizier Air Base, equipped with the Rafale. The Air Base was under his command when the French Air Launched Nuclear Missile – ASMPA – was fielding as a Rafale weapon system and when the first French Air Force raids were launched from Saint-Dizier over Libya in March 2011 as part of Operation HARMATTAN.

Graduated from the Centre des Hautes Etudes Militaires (CHEM) [High Military Studies Center] and the Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale (IHEDN) [Defense and National Security Institute], Paris, Michel Friedling served in the Joint Military Staff, where his areas of responsibilities included successively nuclear deterrence and military strategy. In 2014, he became head of the Plans Department of the French Air Force.

Among his staff responsibilities, general Friedling actively contributed to the French Defense and Security White Papers 2008 and 2013 as well as the Military Expenditure Laws 2009-2014 and 2014-2019.

From Aug.2016 to Feb.2017, he was the French Senior National Representative to USAFCENT Cdr – Al Udeid, Qatar – for Operation Inherent Resolve and commanded the French Air Component allocated to the international coalition against ISIS. Under his command, more than 300 strikes were conducted by the French aircrafts in support of Mosul liberation by the allied and partners Forces.

Promoted to Air Force Brigadier General in June 2017, he became the deputy Chief of Staff responsible for developing the Military Strategy at the French joint Staff HQ in Paris. He actively participated in the development of high-level studies such as the National Strategy Review in 2017, the Military Planning law of 2019-2025 and the Joint Innovation Agency in September 2018.

On September 2018, Brigadier General Friedling was appointed as the Commander of the French Joint Space Command. He was promoted Major General on September 2019.

Maj Gen Traut has been serving as the Director of the National Air Operations and Commander at the Bundeswehr Space Command since September 2021. Between 2020-2021, he was a Royal College of Defence Studies member in London, GB. He also served as the Commandant at the Air Force Officer School in Fürstenfeldbruck from 2016-2020. Maj Gen Traut also worked as the Armed Forces Training Division Chief at the Headquarters German Joint Support Service in Bonn. Between 2007-2013, he served as the Branch Chief both in Cologne and Bonn. Before, Maj Gen Traut worked as the Commander at the Tactical Air Command and Control Centre in Aurich and the Operational Wing MAZAR-E-SHARIF in Afghanistan. Between 2000-2002, he served as the Assistant Section Chief of the Armament Policy Affairs of the German Air Force Office, Air Force Armament Section in Cologne. Between 1990-1997, he worked as the Intercept Control Instructor and Intercept Controller in Erndtebrück. From 1986 to 1988, he served as the system administrator and programmer at Cologne’s Air Force Materiel Office.

Maj Gen Traut joined the Bundeswehr as a conscript in 1983. He studied computer science at the Bundeswehr University Munich.

Brigadier General Didier Polomé started his fighter pilot career in 1988 at the Belgian Royal Military Academy followed by ENJJPT in Sheppard AFB. He joined the 350th Fighter Squadron in Florennes in 1997, and subsequently participated in NATO operations above former Yugoslavia.

In 2004, Brigadier General Didier Polomé was appointed as an A3 staff officer in NATO HQ AC Ramstein. His duties included the coordination of Baltic Air Policing and the operational planning of multiple NATO large scale flying exercises. In 2006, he was deployed to ISAF HQ in Kabul as Mission Director in the ASOC.

In 2007, Brigadier General Didier Polomé assumed command of the 350th Fighter Squadron and led the first Belgian F -16 detachment to Kandahar in support of ISAF in 2008. Upon completion of his command tour in 2009, he was selected for the U.S. Air War College in Maxwell AFB.

Brigadier General Didier Polomé was assigned in 2010 as Chief, Crisis Response Planning in the Belgian Joint Staff. This gave him the opportunity to lead the operational planning for the Belgian contributions to different operations such as ISAF, Unified Protector in Libya, Serval in Mali, and Baltic Air Policing. Three years later, he attended the U.S. National War College in Washington D.C.

During the following two years, Brigadier General Didier Polomé fulfilled the duties of Commander of the Air Ops Division (A3) in the Belgian Air Force staff. His responsibilities included the planning and preparation of all Belgian air combat, transport, helicopter, and ISR assets for operations such as Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) above Iraq and Syria.

In June 2016, Brigadier General Didier Polomé became the commander of the 2nd Tactical Wing at Florennes Air Base. During the three following years, the wing participated in numerous operations both abroad, as in Jordan, in the Baltic states and in Mali, and on the national territory, with the contribution of its unit to the reinforcement of the police in the fight against terrorism.

Finally, after a three-year mandate as base commander, he was appointed to become Assistant Chief Of Staff Strategic Plans and Policy and Defense Planning (ACOS SPP / DP) at the NATO Supreme Allied Command Transformation (SACT) HQ in Norfolk, USA.

Air Commodore Mark Flewin was commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1998. After pilot training, he was posted to the Jaguar and became a Qualified Weapons Instructor, completing several frontline tours including operational deployments to enforce the no-fly zone in Iraq. He joined the nascent Typhoon Force in 2005, taking on instructional and standardisation roles to support capability growth, alongside operational deployments to the Combined Air and Space Operations Centre in Qatar and to command 903 Expeditionary Air Wing in support of Op SHADER.

In 2012, he took command of 1 (Fighter) Squadron at RAF Leuchars, leading its formal reestablishment as a frontline, combat-ready Typhoon squadron. Two joint roles followed: Chief of Staff within the Air Staff at the Ministry of Defence and Chief of Staff, Joint Effects at the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters, where he was appointed CBE in 2018 for his operational contribution.

He assumed command of RAF Coningsby in 2018, supporting a multitude of operational commitments in the UK and overseas, as well as the key commemorative role of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. A short tour as Typhoon Force Commander followed with oversight of RAF Leeming, the Hawk T1 fleet and the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, in addition to the Typhoon Force at RAF Coningsby and Lossiemouth. Upon completion of the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2021, Air Commodore Flewin was appointed to the newly formed UK Space Command, with responsibility for UK space operations,
planning and training.

Dr. Steve Pluntze is the Executive Director of the SPACE Systems Command International Affairs (IA) Office. This office forms part of the Force Design and Architecture Integration functions, which build the overall Space Enterprise Architecture and determine how allied partners are integrated within military space mission areas, such as navigation or weather, and aligned with various cross mission endeavors such as cross mission data and cross mission ground. The office uses international, inter-agency, commercial and academic sources to discover those with the means to either add directly to the capability of the US Space Enterprise Architecture or to help improve the space capabilities of our friends and allies around the world. The IA office leverages the work of US military installations and combat commands.

Dr. Pluntze retired from active Air Force duty as a Colonel in 2011. After retirement, Dr. Pluntze worked as Senior Scientist, Parsons Corp, El Segundo, CA. He served as program manager for the Parsons contract in SMC/EN, the SMC Engineering Directorate, and was assigned to roles in business development and proposal management. He moved from Parsons to Tecolote early in 2016 and then to government service in May, 2016. At Tecolote, he worked for the Director of MILSATCOM in planning the strategic direction of the MILSATCOM Directorate.

Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl is Special Advisor for Political Affairs at the European Space Agency ESA (Headquarters in Paris). From 2019, he was seconded to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin to support the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2020 and the Presidency Trio until the end of 2021. Up to 2019, he was the Chief Strategy Officer of ESA (Headquarters in Paris, France). From 2007 to 2011 he was the Director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, Austria, the leading European think tank for space policy. Prior to this, he was the Head of the Corporate Development and External Relations Department in the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne, Germany. Previously he also worked with the German Federal Ministry for Post and Telecommunications and the German Space Agency (DARA) in Bonn, Germany.

He has been a delegate to numerous international bodies and forums and has served from 2014 to 2016 as chair of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the highest body for space law making, comprising 73 Member States. He also was chair of various European and global committees (ESA International Relations Committee; European Coordination Committee for the International Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement; two plenary working groups of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee, the one on the launching State and the other on the registration practice, both leading to UN General Assembly Resolutions). He presented, respectively testified, at hearings of the European Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kai-Uwe Schrogl is the President of the International Institute of Space Law, the professional association of space law experts from almost 50 countries, Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (recently chairing its Commission on policy, economics and regulations) and Corresponding Member of the French Air and Space Academy, the International Law Association, as well as Member in academic space law and policy related institutions in China, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK. He is also the Co-Chair of the Global Future Council on Space of the World Economic Forum.

Kai-Uwe Schrogl has written or co-edited 20 books and more than 140 articles, reports and papers in the fields of space policy and law as well as telecommunications policy, most recently the Handbook of Space Security in two volumes (at Springer) and A Research Agenda for Space Policy (at Edward Elgar). He sits on editorial boards of various international journals in the field of space policy and law (Space Policy, Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht, Studies in Space Law/Nijhoff; previously also Acta Astronautica). Kai-Uwe Schrogl holds a doctorate degree in political science and lectures international relations as an Honorary Professor at Tübingen University, Germany.

Dr. Jana Robinson became Managing Director of the Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI) in April 2020. She also serves as PSSI’s Space Security Program Director, a post she assumed in 2015. She previously held the position of a Space Policy Officer at the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels as well as a Space Security Advisor to the Czech Foreign Ministry.

From 2009 to 2013, Ms. Robinson worked at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), seconded from the European Space Agency (ESA), leading the Institute’s Space Security Research Programme. Ms. Robinson is an elected member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the George C. Marshall Missile Defense Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Ms. Robinson holds a PhD in the field of space security from the Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies and received two MA degrees, from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and Palacky University in Olomouc, respectively. She received scholarships to attend the International Space University’s (ISU) 2009 Space Studies Program (SSP09), the 2008 Summer Training Course at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, and a one-year course of study at Shanghai University 1999-2000.

Dr. Pascal Faucher is graduated (1997) from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (SUPAERO). He also holds a Master’s Degree (1998) and a Ph. D. in Physical Oceanography (2001) by the University Paul Sabatier, funded by the Ministry of Defense, and an Executive Master of Business Administration (2007) by ESCP Europe. After a post-doctoral position in the EU project Marine Environment and Security for the European Area, his experience includes 19 years of various positions at CNES headquarters as international relations advisor and programme manager. For the last 10 years, as a programme manager in defense and security, he is responsible for the following themes: space security, space situational awareness, space surveillance and tracking, space traffic management, space debris, space weather, near-Earth objects. He is the chairman of the European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) since July 2017. He is a French delegate to the Programme Board SSA of the European Space Agency (ESA), the EU Space Programme Committee in SSA configuration, the Administrative Board of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EU SPA), the Steering Group of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), the Steering Committee of the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), appointed in 2021 as the national point of contact to the new Working Group on the Long Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (LTS 2.0). Since October 2021, he is the chair of the Space Security Committee of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). In France, he chairs the National Coordination Group on Space Weather (GCME). He is a member of the French Steering Group on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (GEIPAN).

Major General (Ret) Pascal LEGAI, was an intelligence officer in the French Air Force. He acquired experience mainly in the fields of geography, imagery, international relations, Space and Security issues. He has extensive international experience in geospatial and intelligence domains. He had been appointed as a geographer in the French Air Force staff in Paris for 5 years (1994-1999). He was also the Head of the French Imagery Intelligence Centre (2004-2006), Human Resources adviser of the French Air Force (2006-2008) and the Commanding Officer of the French Air Force Base in Grenoble (2008-2010) before joining the EU Satellite Centre in July 2010 as Deputy Director.

Pascal LEGAI has been elected by the Member States as the EU Satellite Centre Director on the 1st January 2015, an imagery analysis centre, based near Madrid, Spain, providing Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) and Imagery Intelligence (IMINT) products and services to support the EU external action. He left this position on the 30th of April 2019. On 1st of May 2019, he has been appointed to the European Space Agency (ESA), first as a Senior Security Adviser to the ESA/Earth Observation Director, in Frascati (Rome), and today as a Senior Security Coordinator to ESA DG in Paris.

He has a PhD in International Relations, a law degree, several master degrees in Imagery Processing, Computer Sciences, in History, in British Civilization, in Mathematics. He is an aerospace engineer and has also an Engineer Diploma in the field of the geographic sciences.

Dr. John Huth is the Defense Intelligence Officer for Space and Counterspace. He serves as the senior intelligence advisor to the Director and Deputy Director of DIA on the full range of intelligence matter related to space and counterspace topics to include analysis, collection, counterintelligence, international engagement, intelligence policy, and outreach.

Dr. Huth earned his Doctorate in Computational Science from George Mason University, his Master of Science in Physics from the University of Massachusetts, and a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy from Penn State. He served as an Army Intelligence Officer, technology industry leader, and program manager for over 25 years before joining the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Dr. Huth is a lead contributor to several firsts in space and intelligence that have had long lasting impacts. He has experience across the full spectrum of intelligence activities from analysis, to collection, to enterprise management. Dr. Huth has led multiple cross-discipline organizations.

Travis B. Langster was sworn in as Principal Director of Space and Missile Defense Policy in the Office of Under Secretary of Defense, Space Policy on April 18, 2022.

In this role, his responsibilities include the review and development of space policies aligned with Department of Defense priorities and strategic guidance. These responsibilities span across international and commercial engagement, strategy & plans, integration and missile defense.

Mr. Langster’s prior experience and engagements span across many sectors within the National Security Space community. Mr. Langster’s contributions within this community includes work and support to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) HQ and mission ground stations, the National Military Command Center (NMCC), the National Air and Space Center (NASIC), the National Security Agency (NSA) and other organizations. Mr. Langster has also participated in many international engagements on behalf of U.S. Government trade missions and direct engagements across several countries including Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada and India. In additional to his technical and operational experiences, Mr. Langster has been an invited speaker to on many national and international Space Security and Policy speaking engagements globally. His dialogue and discourse on space security, space safety and international cooperation has been recognized as a participant for many speaking engagements globally.

Previous to his role in the Department of Defense, Mr. Langster served as the Vice President and General Manager at COMSPOC Corp, a global leader in space situational awareness, space domain awareness, and space traffic coordination and management. In this role, he managed the transition and start-up of the company from its former parent company. Mr. Langster was responsible for establishing and managing the organizational design and business operations. Prior to his leadership of COMSPOC, Mr. Langster was a Business Unit Vice President at Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI). Mr. Langster began his aerospace career as a satellite engineer focused on spacecraft integration & test, satellite subsystems, launch and early orbit operations for Air Force satellite systems.

Mr. Langster received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering from Purdue University and was inducted as a 2021 Purdue Alumni Outstanding Aerospace Engineer. He is an active supporter of community organizations, foundations , youth mentoring and STEM awareness. Mr. Langster is a Board member for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington DC.

Dr. Pace rejoined the faculty of the Elliott School of International Affairs in 2021 after serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council from 2017-2020.  He previously served as the Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation at NASA from 2005-2008 and Deputy Chief of Staff for the NASA Administrator from 2002-2003.  Prior to NASA, he was the Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  From 1993-2000, he worked for the RAND Corporation’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, and from 1990-1993, he served as the Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Office of Space Commerce, in the Office of the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1980; Masters degrees in Aeronautics & Astronautics and Technology & Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982; and a Doctorate in Policy Analysis from the RAND Graduate School in 1989.

Mr. O’Connell brings almost four decades of experience in the U.S. government, in research organizations, and as an entrepreneur and business leader to this position. Mr. O’Connell has researched and written extensively on the policy, security, and global market issues related to the commercialization of remote sensing. Aside from numerous articles and op-eds, he was co-author of Commercial Observation Satellites: at the Leading Edge of Global Transparency (2000). He served as the Executive Secretary and Staff Director of the NIMA Commission (1999-2000). He was a member, and later Chair, of NOAA’s federal advisory committee on remote sensing from 2002-2016. Previously, Mr. O’Connell served as the CEO of Innovative Analytics and Training, a Washington, D.C. professional services firm focused on analysis and decision support for U.S. government and commercial clients. During this time, he also served as a senior consultant to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and as an independent advisor to the Director, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Mr. O’Connell’s background also includes extensive experience in national security and intelligence matters, including assignments in the Department of Defense, Department of State, National Security Council, and the Office of the Vice President. He spent a decade conducting and managing research in these areas at the RAND Corporation, including as the first director of RAND’s Intelligence Policy Center. Finally, Mr. O’Connell has taught and lectured extensively at universities and research organizations, including MIT, Thunderbird School of Global Management and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Colonel Ladislav Stahl is a graduate of the Military Academy in Brno, Charles University in Prague, CEVRO Institute, and European School of Business & Management. He is the SPACE Advisor and Coordinator to Joint Intelligence and Security Division at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. Before, he was a director of the Czech National Satellite Centre (SATCEN CR) and head of the Space Technologies expert section on the Board for Research, Development, and Innovations at the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. As an intelligence officer and Special Forces member, he took part in several military operations in Balkan and Afghanistan. He also worked for the EU, namely in the Operations Division of the European Union Satellite Centre for three years.

Dr. Regina Peldszus is a Space Policy Officer with the European External Action Service (EEAS), Security and Defence Policy Directorate, with a focus on Space Security, Space Situational Awareness and threat response.

Until the end of 2021, she was a Seconded Expert to the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs in Berlin (Division for Space Agency, Technologies & Security) covering interagency, European and international cooperation for Space Security and Space Situational Awareness. Prior to this she served as Head of Delegation and Co-Chair of EU Space Surveillance & Tracking (EU SST) and handled horizon-scanning studies at the intersection of space operations and infrastructure while with the German Space Agency at DLR (Department of Space Situational Awareness). Previously, she worked for the European Space Agency (ESA), as Internal Research Fellow with the European Space Operations Centre (Special Projects Division) analysing the resilience of mission control teams during critical phases such as LEOP including transfer of practice from other complex domains, and earlier as consultant for human systems integration for future systems at ESA’s Astronaut Training Centre (Special Skills Unit). Her background is in design research (MA, University of the Arts London; research council-funded PhD, Kingston University London) with an emphasis on crewed exploration mission scenarios, including foresight approaches, simulator fidelity and extreme environment analogues in high-latitudes.

Regina is a senior member of the AIAA, a member of the IAF Space Security Committee, the IAA Space Traffic Management Committee where she served as secretary in 2021, and the IFIP Working Group on Human Error, Resilience, Reliability, Safety & System Development.

Paul Graziani is COMSPOC Corporation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. COMSPOC aims to detect, track, characterize and protect everything in space. The company delivers commercial SSA and STM services for the safety of spaceflight and Space Domain awareness services for national security out of Exton, Pennsylvania.

For the 33 years before COMSPOC’s inception, Paul championed the use of commercial software in the national security and space industries as co-founder and CEO of Analytical Graphics Inc (AGI).

Paul is chairman of the board for OneSky Systems Inc, and he sits on the board of directors of Passur Aerospace, Ursa Space Systems, the Civil Air Patrol Foundation, and serves as vice-chairperson of the Federation of Galaxy Explorers (FOGE). He is also an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Paul earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from LaSalle College, but quickly pivoted his career to software, launching into satellite mission planning systems with General Electric’s Space Division in 1980. Paul is a serial early adopter of all technology, an avid woodworker, and a sports car enthusiast.

Dr. Hiroshi Koyama is currently the Fellow & Chief Engineer of Electronic Systems Group of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO). In March 1987, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo and in April of 1987, he joined MELCO. He started his career as Chief Engineer for the rendezvous and docking system of Engineering Satellite-VII (ETS-VII) & H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) in Kamakura Works. Since then, he has experienced satellite system development and project management of various satellites including Communication Satellites, Earth Observation Satellites and Navigation Satellites.  In April of 2008, he was appointed General Manager of Office for Space Utilization and Strategy Planning at MELCO HeadQuarters. He was responsible for promoting utilization of space systems in various fields such as high precision navigation fields and Earth Observation fields. In April of 2015, he was appointed Executive Fellow of Electronic Systems Group and responsible for business development for MELCO space activities and promoting utilization of space.  Dr. Koyama is currently member of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and member of International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committee on Aerospace.

Peter Marquez is the Head of Space Policy at Amazon Web Services where he oversees global space policy activities for Amazon Web Services.

Peter served at the White House for the three previous Administrations. Peter was the Director for Space Policy for Presidents Bush and Obama and a Senior Advisor to the National Space Council.  Peter was responsible for the development, implementation, and coordination of the U.S. national space policies.  Peter has also worked with foreign governments to establish their own space agencies, assist in the writing of their national space policies, and create interagency processes to execute national space programs.

Peter also worked in the commercial space sector as Managing Partner of Andart Global, U.S., the Vice President of Global Engagement for Planetary Resources, and the Vice President for Strategy at Orbital Sciences Corporation.  Before his time at the White House, Peter served for a decade in the Pentagon on a variety of space and classified programs for the Air Force and Office of the Secretary of Defense.  He served in requirements, acquisition, operations, and policy roles and served as the Director of Special Programs for the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Tom is the Director of Space and Cyber Initiatives for Avantus Federal and volunteers as the Deputy Vice President of the International Region for the Space Force Association (SFA). At Avantus, he leads corporate-level space and cyber growth strategy and capture activities for Defense, Intelligence and Civilian portfolios. In this role he provides subject matter expertise on U.S. and Allied government Space and Cyber operations and technology matters. He is also helping to lead international activities for the SFA and facilitating dialogue between Allied partners on space issues.

Tom served in the Air Force for 24 years as a Space Operations Officer with experience in Space, Cyber and ICBM operations. This included a NATO posting as the Space Strategist at the Joint Air Power Competence Center in Germany. He has three combat deployments, including as the Chief of Space Operations for Coalition forces in Afghanistan. He retired in 2018. Prior to assuming his current position, Tom was a Project Leader for the MITRE Corporation.

Since June 1, 2016 Jean-Jacques Tortora serves as the Director of the European Space Policy Institute. From 2007 to mid 2016 he was the Secretary General of ASD-Eurospace, which is the trade association of the European Space Industry. From 2004 to mid 2007, he was head of the French Space Agency (CNES) office in North America and the Attaché for Space and Aeronautics at the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C. Previously he was Deputy Director for Strategy and Programs, responsible for the Industrial Strategy of CNES, the French Space Agency. Prior to that position, he was France’s representative in the ESA Industrial Policy Committee and Joint Communication Board. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Tortora was adviser to the French Ministry of Research for Industrial Policy Funds management, aiming at industry competitiveness support and new space applications and services development and promotion. From 1996 to 1998, he was appointed by Arianespace in Evry, France, to lead a risk mitigation and cost reduction plan covering to the end of operational life of the Ariane 4 launcher. From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Tortora was based in Kourou, French Guiana, as Head of Arianespace Operations Quality Department. There, he led the Quality Management of the Ariane 4 launchers final integration and of the launch pad operations and maintenance. He supervised the industrialization and the implementation of the associated control plans. Mr. Tortora started his career in 1984 at the French military procurement agency, DGA, as a naval weapons integration and test engineer, expert in signal processing and warships acoustic discretion.

Dr. Peter L. Hays is Adjunct Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs at George Washington University’s (GWU) Space Policy Institute, Senior Policy Advisor with Falcon Research, and Space Chair at Marine Corps University. He has been directly involved in helping to develop and implement major national security space policy and strategy initiatives since 2004 and serves as a senior advisor on acquisition, governance, cadre, and strategic messaging issues. Dr. Hays was presented the National Intelligence Professional Award by the Director of National Intelligence in 2014 and was chosen as the SAIC National Security Solutions Employee of the Year in 2008. He served as a Staff Augmentee at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in 1988 and at the National Space Council in 1990. Dr. Hays is a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Missile Defense Project Advisory Board and is a member of the editorial board for Aether, Space and Defense, and Astropolitics; he served on the Space Security Index Governance Group and was a term member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Space Security from 2010-2014. He holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School and was an Honor Graduate of the USAF Academy. Dr. Hays served as an Air Force officer from 1979-2004; flew C-141 cargo planes; and taught international relations, defense policy, and space policy courses at the USAF Academy, School of Advanced Airpower Studies, and National Defense University. He now teaches the Air- and Spacepower Seminars for the Marine Corps School of Advanced Warfighting and the Space and National Security and Science, Technology, and National Security Policy graduate seminars at GWU. Major publications include Handbook of Space Security, Space and Security, and Toward a Theory of Spacepower.

Since October 2016, Dr. Xavier Pasco (Doct. In Pol. Sc.- Univ. of Paris-Sorbonne) has been Director of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS) in Paris. Before that, Dr. Pasco has been in charge of space, high technology and security-related studies at FRS and CREST (Center for Research and Evaluation of the relationships between Strategies and Technology) associated to Ecole Polytechnique.

Xavier Pasco has been in charge of numerous studies and working groups about National and European space policies in the field of civilian and military activities. He is a specialist of the United States space policy and programmes, with a focus on the transatlantic relationships dealing with military space and interoperability issues. Since 2004, Xavier Pasco has engaged in specific research projects managed by the European Commission in the field of space and security research. He has been in charge of End-User engagement programmes in several, PASR, FP6 and FP 7 projects related to high tech security related to space technology and critical infrastructures. He has been in charge of the ESA-commissioned study related to governance and data policy models suitable for a European Space Situational Awareness System (2008-2009) and has been the coordinator of the EDA Study on Earth observation Ground Segment System of Systems for Security and Defence (2011-2012). He has also supported several analytical works of the subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament on these issues and has been contributed to further ESA on-going work on governance and data policy issues for future programmes. He is today the lead coordinator of SPACEWAYS, a European Commission-sponsored project dedicated to studying Space Traffic Management with a team of key European industry actors, research centres and Institutes.

Xavier Pasco has also led many research programmes in France and has been the author, coordinator or “rapporteur” of many research reports on space issues including official reports. He has also conducted several projects related to missile defense issues as well as to the use of space for security, notably in support of national and other international organizations. For over 12 years, he has been in charge of many studies for the French ministry of Armed Forces).

Xavier Pasco has been Associate Research Fellow at the Space Policy Institute in the George Washington University (Washington D.C., U.S.A.) since 1994. He has also been giving lectures in the French Military School in Paris as well as at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. He is the European Editor of the international academic review Space Policy. In 2012, Xavier Pasco has been elected full member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is also a member of the U.S. based Secure World Foundation (SWF) Advisory committee.

He has published numerous works (books and more than 100 articles or papers) on these topics. His latest book: “Le nouvel âge spatial : de la Guerre froide au New Space”, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2017.

Dr. John Stopher is a Senior Fellow supporting PSSI’s Space Security Program. He previously served as the Principal Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force for Space and was responsible to the Secretary of the Air Force for establishing a Space Force as well as governance, planning, policy, strategy, development and execution across the defense space portfolio and integration with the National Security Space Enterprise. He was also the lead for international space relations and interdepartmental and interagency matters.

Prior to joining the Air Force in 2017, Dr. Stopher was the President of 377 Omega, a national security space and intelligence community technology, policy, and programs focused consulting company. From 1998 until 2007, John served on the U.S. House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as Budget Director, Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, and Program Monitor for the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. John also worked at SeiCorp, TASC, and Eastman Kodak as an engineer on national space programs.

He earned his PhD in electrical engineering from the University at Buffalo. His research was sponsored by the Strategic Defense Initiative in the area of advanced pulsed power for space systems and taught courses in electromagnetic theory, probability and statistics, electric circuits, and physical electronics laboratory.

Dr Jill Stuart is an academic based at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is an expert in the politics, ethics and law of outer space exploration and exploitation. The UK Home Office has endorsed Dr Stuart as an Exceptional Talent Migrant/ World Leader in her Field. In 2015 she was awarded the prestigious Margaret Mead Award Lecture by the British Science Association in recognition of her cutting edge research. She is a frequent presence in the global media (print, radio, television, documentary) and regularly gives lectures and public appearances around the world. She is trained in both domestic and international mediation and has done consultancy work for the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. She has contributed to space-related conferences and projects with the United Nations and NATO. From 2013-2017 Dr Stuart was Editor in Chief of the Elsevier journal Space Policy where she remains on the Editorial Board. She is also on the Board of Advisors of METI International, an organisation focussed on searching for and messaging extraterrestrial intelligence. She has a sub-specialism in women, peace and security and gender-based violence and is a Trustee of the domestic abuse charity Luton All Women’s Centre.

Dr. Namrata Goswami is an independent scholar on space policy and Great Power Politics. Recently, she has been invited to teach at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University for their Executive Masters in Global Management, Space course. She is a consultant for Space Fund Intelligence and a guest lecturer at the seminar on “India Today: Economics, Politics, Innovation & Sustainability”, Emory University. She was subject matter expert in international affairs with Futures Laboratory, Alabama. She worked as Research Fellow at MP-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi; a visiting Fellow at Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway; La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; University of Heidelberg, Germany; Jennings-Randolph Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace; and was a Fulbright Senior Fellowship Awardee. She was awarded the Minerva grant by Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense to study great power competition in outer space. In April 2019, Dr. Goswami testified before the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission on China’s space program. Her co-authored book, Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space was published 2020 by Lexington Press; Rowman and Littlefield. Her book on The Naga Ethnic Movement for a Separate Homeland was published in 2020 by Oxford University Press.  She has published widely to include in The Diplomat, the Economic Times, The Washington Post, Ad Astra, Asia Policy, Live Encounters Magazine, Cairo Review. She was invited in November 2019 to share about her life and her work at a Tedx event held at the Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, Alabama. She is currently working on two academic book projects, one on China’s Grand Strategy and Notions of Territoriality (Routledge, 2023) and the other on Spacepower Theory and Practice: Case Studies of U.S. China, India, Russia and Japan (2023).