Welcome to the President's Inbox. I'm Jim Lindsay, the Mary and David Boy's Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. This week's topic is U.S. space policy.

Ten, nine, ignition sequence, 5, 6, 5.

With me to discuss the increasing importance of space as an area of commercial opportunity

and strategic vulnerability for the United States are Nina Amano and Jane Harmon.

Nina served in the U.S. military for 35 years, first in the U.S. Air Force, and then in

the U.S. Space Force after its creation in December 2019. She was the first Lieutenant General

commissioned in the U.S. Space Force and served as its first director of staff. Her other posts

while on active duty included being

director of space programs for the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. Nina has received a

Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the General Jerome F. O'Malley Distinguished Space Leadership Award,

and the Daughters of the American Revolution Patriot Award, among other

distinctions. Jane served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she represented

California's 36th Congressional District. Among other positions in the U.S. House, she was the

ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee after 9-11.

Jane left the House in 2011 to become president and CEO of the Wilson Center, and she became

President Emerita in 2021. Jane chaired the 2024 Commission on the National Defense Strategy

and is the author of Insanity Defense, why our failure to confront

hard national security problems makes us less safe. Nina and Jane are the co-chairs of the Council

on Foreign Relations Task Force on U.S. space policy, which last month released a report titled

Securing Space, a Plan for U.S. action.

Nina and Jane, thank you for joining me.

Thank you.

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