NASIC welcomes a familiar figure as its new commander

“It’s good to be home,” Stremmel told assembled airmen and Space Force guardians at the National Musuem of the U.S. Air Force.

Relinquishing command was Col. Ariel G. Batungbacal. She took command of NASIC in June 2022.

Batungbacal, who is also a brigadier general select, will serve as the director of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Operations, at Air Force headquarters in Arlington, Va.

NASIC brings to military and political leaders intelligence on threats to national security from the air and space. In his time at Shaw, Stremmel said he saw three- and four-star generals use NASIC-produced intelligence to make key decisions as war broke out in the Middle East after the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7.

Across the community that relies on intelligence, NASIC’s reputation has never been higher, and it’s up to the center to “live up to the hype,” Stremmel said.

He takes command at a time when the Air Force is “reoptimizing” for competition for nations considered rival or “great” powers, principally China and Russia. This will involve a sweeping reorganization of the Air Force, and Stremmel emphasized the urgency of the moment during and after the change-of-command ceremony.

“Really, the focus is on great power competition, which is exactly in NASIC’s wheelhouse,” he said. “NASIC has been dealing with great power competition since its inception.”

In its 107-year history, NASIC traces its beginnings to the U.S. Army Signal Corps Airplane Engineering Department at McCook Field north of downtown Dayton during World War I. Today, the center has four intelligence analysis groups, 17 squadrons, five support directorates and 3,700 military, civilian and contract employees.

Stremmel takes command of a center with $1.8 billion in facilities and a $747 million operating budget.

For her part, Batungbacal had words of praise and appreciation for friends and colleagues. Lt. Gen. Leah Lauderback, a former NASIC commander who today is the deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Cyber Effects Operations, told listeners that without NASIC’s “exquisite intelligence” in the past two years, the nation would have been less safe.

Batungbacal will be going to work on Lauderback’s staff at the Pentagon.

“I am so proud of this outfit,” Batungbacal said.