The Defense Department announced yesterday the appointment of Robert Butler as deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber and space policy. This job is a new position, part of a reorganization of the DOD’s policy office led by new Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy that paired space and cyberspace issues.
Butler’s background, though, seems to be primarily on the cyber side, as NextGov reported. He has “real, hands-on programming experience” from his early career in the Air Force, and later served in a number of intelligence positions; he was the head the military intelligence business for Computer Sciences Corporation prior to his appointment. It’s not clear how much of that experience dealt with space systems, but at first glance it does raise the question of how much attention space will get from the new office compared to cyberspace.
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