Derek Tournear
Defense Leadership
Derek Tournear is wrapping up an eventful year as the director of the Space Development Agency. The agency successfully launched the first demonstration satellites for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture all while managing a fast-paced acquisition strategy for the constellation’s future satellites. As leader of the Space Force’s disruptor for space acquisition, Tournear has embraced a “spiral development” approach that calls on the agency to incrementally deliver new capabilities work in multiple iterations, enabling for the latest technology advancements and quick pivots in responses to threats. “Unless we get on this model of spiral development and get new capabilities up there every two years by hook or by crook, we’ll never get ahead of the threat and be able to keep up,” Tournear said recently.
