John Plumb

Dr. John F. Plumb served as the first assistant secretary of Defense for Space Policy from April 2022-May 2024, where he was responsible for the overall supervision of space warfighting policy for the Department of Defense. His policy portfolio encompassed strategic capabilities for deterrence: space, nuclear weapons, cyber, missile defense, electromagnetic warfare, and countering weapons of mass destruction. His accomplishments include the classified Space Strategic Review, the unclassified Commercial Space Integration Strategy, the 2022 Missile Defense Review, the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review, and the unclassified Space Policy Review and Strategy on Protection of Satellites. He also entirely rewrote the Department’s outdated space classification policy, and spearheaded the expansion of the Combined Space Operations Initiative from 7 to 10 Allied nations. Dr. Plumb has over 30 years experience in national security roles both in and out of uniform. He was an active duty US Navy fast attack submarine officer, and as a reservist commanded multiple Navy units, retiring as a Captain/O-6. He has held civilian staff roles in the US Senate, the Pentagon, and the White House’s National Security Council, as well as senior roles at RAND and the Aerospace Corporation. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Notre Dame, and an M.S. in Physics and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado. He is currently the Head of Strategy for K2 Space, a startup based in Torrance, California building large, powerful, radiation tolerant satellites at low cost and at scale.