Trump taps Miller to head U.S. Space Command
President Donald Trump nominated Lt. Gen. David Miller Jr. to command U.S. Space Command and pin on a fourth star as the American military modernizes for orbital warfare.
On Wednesday, the Space Force’s top officer, Gen. Douglas Schiess, confirmed on social media that Miller was tapped to lead Spacecom, the U.S. military’s combatant command whose area of responsibility begins at 100 kilometers altitude above mean sea level and extends far into outer space. The nomination was transmitted to the Senate on Tuesday, according to a congressional notice.
Space assets, such as communication satellites and GPS, underpin American military operations, and the domain is expected to be a key battleground in future conflicts between advanced nations.
Miller’s nomination comes about two weeks after Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced that the U.S. military now has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary actions.”
Spacecom is responsible for “delivering space capabilities to joint and combined forces and protecting and defending the space domain,” according to a command website.
Miller currently serves as deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements at the Pentagon, a position that he’s held since November of last year.
Prior to that, he led Space Operations Command, a Space Force field command tasked with providing a variety of capabilities to the military services, U.S. Space Command and other combatant commands. Those capabilities include space domain awareness, space electronic warfare, missile warning, command and control, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), position, navigation and timing (PNT), and “orbital warfare,” according to a Space Force description of the organization.
According to his official bio, Miller also served as special assistant to the vice chief of space operations, director of operations, training and force development (J3) at U.S. Space Command, and assistant deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber and nuclear, among other roles he’s held during his decades-long military career.
If confirmed by the Senate, Miller would succeed Gen. Stephen Whiting as Spacecom boss, a role that Whiting has held since January 2024.
