National Space Intelligence Center to welcome new commander Friday

Space Operations Command's newest Delta, Space Delta 18, was activated and the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) was established during a ceremony at the Nutter Center on June 24, 2022. (U.S. Space Force photo by Senior Airman Jack Gardner)

Space Operations Command's newest Delta, Space Delta 18, was activated and the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) was established during a ceremony at the Nutter Center on June 24, 2022. (U.S. Space Force photo by Senior Airman Jack Gardner)

The National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC) will welcome Col. Marcus D. Starks as its new commander Friday in the center’s first change of command ceremony.

The ceremony will be 10 a.m. at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, with Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Gagnon, deputy chief of space operations for intelligence, presiding.

Starks will accept command of the the NSIC, also known as Space Delta 18, from its first commander, Col. Marqus D. Randall.

Col. Marqus Randall, National Space Intelligence Center commander, speaks during an interservice transfer ceremony Dec. 16, 2022, at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In the ceremony, 11 former Army Soldiers and 125 former Air Force civilian employees were sworn into the Space Force. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez)

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Randall first took command of the center in June 2022 in a ceremony at Wright State University’s Ervin J. Nutter Center. In that same ceremony, the NSIC was born, focused on gathering intelligence on what adversaries are doing in space, an arena increasingly important to American military readiness and commerce.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base-anchored NSIC or “Delta 18″ is considered the 18th member of the nation’s intelligence community.

Also Friday: Delta 18 will transition from a space operations command to a field operating agency under the Space Operations for Intelligence, a release from the Wright Patterson said.

“This activation enhances support for the U.S. Space Force’s mission by providing essential scientific and technical intelligence for the space domain,” the release said.

Starks previously served as chief of staff to the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence at the Pentagon.

Randall will go on to serve as director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance at the Space Operations Center in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.

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