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NRO's SIGINT chief architect Ryan Lewis to keynote 2026 Intel Summit. * Ryan Lewis leads NRO's next-generation space-based SIGINT systems * He is expected to discuss NRO's industry partnerships and opportunities to support agency missions * Join intelligence leaders at the 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24 The Potomac Officers Club, the nation's leading GovCon events and networking organization, is excited to announce that Ryan Lewis, chief architect for the Systems Acquisition and Operations Directorate at the National Reconnaissance Office, will keynote the 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24 at Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park in Virginia. The SIGINT and acquisition expert joins the roster of high-profile intelligence leaders who will share insights on changing intelligence paradigms and discuss how to navigate a rapidly evolving threat landscape driven by advances in technology and mounting international tensions. The keynote lineup includes: * Maj. Gen. Brian Sidari, deputy chief of space operations for intelligence at the Space Force * Carrie Thompson, chief of intelligence at the Drug Enforcement Administration * More to be announced in the coming weeks! The 2026 Intel Summit serves as a vital forum for the intelligence community and industry to assess threats to national security and identify the modern capabilities needed to counter sophisticated, nation-state-backed, artificial intelligence-powered operations. Tickets are now available here! Who is Ryan Lewis? Lewis was commissioned as a Navy officer in 2001 and spent more than eight years as a naval surface warfare officer and engineering duty officer. He was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom and to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. For his final active duty tour, he was assigned as a project officer and systems engineer within the NRO's Directorate of Advanced Systems and Technology. After transitioning to civilian service, Lewis continued holding leadership roles at the NRO. He served as vehicle engineering manager and deputy program manager for the Communication Acquisition and Operations Directorate's Space Systems Group and as an insider threat program manager at the Office of Security and Counter-Intelligence. Within the SIGINT directorate, he held positions in the Low Earth Orbit Systems Program Office and the Office of the Chief Engineer. He also built a career in the Navy Reserve, rising to the rank of commander and completing three tours supporting the NRO and one tour supporting the National Security Agency and the U.S. Tenth Fleet. As a servicemember, Lewis received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal and multiple unit citations. Throughout his career at the NRO, he has received the NRO Director's Circle Award, NRO Senior Civilian of the Year and COMM Directorate Senior Civilian of the Year. Lewis holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech and a master's degree in astronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. What are Ryan Lewis' responsibilities as chief architect at SIGINT? As chief architect, Lewis leads the definition, evaluation and integration of next-generation space-based signals intelligence systems to meet national security and military requirements at NRO. He also collaborates with SIGINT users, operators and industry partners to define and deliver systems to address various challenges. His directorate, SIGINT, is responsible for buying and managing the satellites that collect and process foreign communications and weapons testing telemetry. SIGINT supports other agencies by delivering raw data for further analysis and exploitation. What will Ryan Lewis discuss during his keynote? Lewis' keynote holds particular significance as space-based SIGINT becomes a defining capability for strengthening defense and national security. As chief architect of the SIGINT Directorate, he has visibility into NRO investment priorities, what new systems the agency needs and where industry partners can contribute. NRO is in the process of building the "largest government constellation in history" with hundreds of satellites capable of providing the military and intelligence communities with persistent, accurate and timely data from space. The agency plans to conduct about half a dozen launches for 2026, Spaceflight Now reported. Its most recent launch, designated NROL-95, lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 30. He might also talk about: * How NRO works with industry to deliver SIGINT systems across the full acquisition life cycle * How SIGINT data supports both national-level decision-making and operational military needs * Leveraging commercial space technologies to support agency missions * Opportunities for industry partners in NRO's SIGINT efforts * Inter-agency collaboration to support federal missions For GovCon firms tracking opportunities within NRO, insight from someone directly involved in developing the directorate's capability and modernization roadmap could inform how they approach technology development, teaming and proposal strategy for future acquisitions. What to expect at the 2026 Intel Summit. The 2026 Intel Summit comes at a pivotal moment as the intelligence community grapples with the rising threats from adversaries like China and Russia and AI's dual nature as both a tool for national defense and a weapon used to undermine U.S. interests. Panels will dive deep into topics critical to the IC, including: * Identifying supply chain exposure and risk and early indicators of compromise * Overcoming data challenges of deploying agents across finance, contracts, capture and cyber * Leveraging open source intelligence for counterespionage and to protect U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets * Deploying trustworthy agentic AI to accelerate decision-making at the tactical edge * Building modern cyber defense architectures to adapt to faster, autonomous threat actors * Evaluating the impact of adopting AI for intelligence operations and the challenges of expanding AI use in the IC Each discussion will feature prominent government leaders, including Erik Blasch, program officer at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Dr. Adele Merritt, former chief information officer at the National Institutes of Health. Panelists from government and industry will be added closer to the event. Sign up today!

Blue Origin gets national security launch task order hours before New Glenn explosion. U.S. Space Force, National Reconnaissance Office 'remain committed partners with Blue Origin' WASHINGTON - The U.S. Space Force said May 29 it awarded Blue Origin a task order to launch a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, and reaffirmed government support for the company's New Glenn rocket following a launchpad explosion May 28. The award was issued under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program, a contracting vehicle designed for national security missions that can accept greater launch risk than the military's most demanding space launches. The mission, known as NRO Task Order-4, calls for a single launch for the National Reconnaissance Office between the fourth quarter of 2027 and the first quarter of 2028 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Space Force said the task order was awarded the afternoon of May 28, hours before a New Glenn launch vehicle exploded during a hot fire test at Cape Canaveral. "The U.S. Space Force and NRO remain committed partners with Blue Origin and will work with them on the New Glenn vehicle anomaly," the Space Systems Command said in a statement. Col. Eric Zarybnisky, who runs the NSSL program at the Space Systems Command, praised "first responders and the Space Launch Delta 45 team who ensured public safety. This anomaly is a solemn reminder that the critical capability this community provides is rocket science and inherently challenging. The National Security Space Launch program will continue working closely with our Blue Origin partners to help identify the root cause and implement corrective actions." Blue Origin's chief executive David Limp said in a social media post May 30 that the company has "regained some access to Launch Complex 36 and are actively investigating the hotfire anomaly. We will start clearing the pad soon and have a good rebuild plan in place." The NSSL award comes as the Pentagon seeks to expand the number of launch providers available for military and intelligence missions amid growing demand for access to space. Unlike the more demanding NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 missions, which require full certification and are reserved for the highest-value national security payloads, Lane 1 missions are intended to resemble commercial procurements and are open to providers that have completed at least one successful flight and been admitted to the Lane 1 contract vehicle. Blue Origin became eligible to compete for Lane 1 missions in June 2024, along with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. The Space Force did not disclose the value of the task order.

ASCEND 2026 puts "need for speed" at the center of National Security space. Space is no longer a benign operating environment. It is a contested warfighting domain, where adversaries are rapidly expanding counter-space capabilities and testing U.S. resilience on orbit and across the industrial base. Against this backdrop, ASCEND 2026 will feature its most robust national security programming to date - a keynote address from the U.S. Space Force, a full-day Space Transformation Track hosted by The Aerospace Corporation, plus a Classified Day - showing how the United States can outpace adversaries, harden critical space infrastructure, and transform its space industrial base. National Security Sessions: From Orbit to Infrastructure ASCEND's national security track will feature a broad portfolio of unclassified sessions covering the future of national security space, advances in space domain awareness, vLEO, technological sovereignty in space, cislunar infrastructure, cyber-resilient systems engineering, and Golden Dome and Space-Based Interceptor missile defense, among other topics. Together, the Space Transformation Track and broader ASCEND national security program, plus Classified Day aim to move the community from awareness to action - driving faster collaboration, more resilient architectures, and a holistic approach to defending the space domain. Brig. Gen. Nick Hague, Assistant Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, U.S. Space Force, will deliver the opening plenary session keynote on Wednesday, 20 May, with Brig. Gen. Damon Feltman (Ret.), CEO, Space Force Association, providing introductory remarks. Classified Day: Deep Dive Inside the SCIF A central pillar of this year's national security focus is Classified Day, to be held 18 May at The Aerospace Corporation's classified SCIF in Chantilly, Virginia. Attendance requires an appropriate clearance level: Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI), Talent Keyhole (TK), or NF-NOFORN (No Foreign Nationals). Classified Day will bring together Pentagon and intelligence community leaders, top investors, primes, neoprimes, and high-growth start-ups. Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, will participate in an extended fireside chat as he prepares to step down after nearly seven years leading the NRO. "ASCEND's first Classified Day reflects the growing need for deeper, more candid technical collaboration across a more integrated and threatened national security space enterprise," said Eric Hall, corporate chief engineer at The Aerospace Corporation. "This setting allows us to move beyond high-level dialogue and work across government and industry to integrate capabilities, strengthen the space industrial base, and accelerate solutions that help secure the nation and shape the future of space." Staying Ahead in a Contested Space Domain The organizing theme for this year's national security content in simple terms is: "a need for speed," according to Chelsey Wiley, AIAA's content manager for R&D and national security. That urgency, she explained, is rooted in intensifying strategic competition. "These 'go-faster' directives are about catching up to competitors, with China as a central focus," Wiley noted. "They're pushing the Pentagon to move faster and to better align government needs with rapid commercial solutions - bridging the commercial/government divide." Across both classified and unclassified sessions, ASCEND will probe how to accelerate the national security space industrial base, adopt AI/ML and digital engineering at scale, and strengthen supply chains and mission resilience from vLEO to cislunar space. Space Transformation Track and Unclassified Sandbox This year, The Aerospace Corporation is hosting the Space Transformation Track on Thursday, 21 May, which will include a Strategic Innovation Sandbox Interactive Roundtable Experience. These roundtable discussions, aimed at priming America's space industry to solve challenges faster, will explore how shared innovation ecosystems and collaboration with investors can address U.S. production and supply chain issues, leverage AI and machine learning for space, and deliver U.S. leadership on the moon. "The Innovation Sandbox will leverage systematic innovation and foresight methodologies to catalyze the exceptional talent across the community," said Kara Cunzeman, principal director of The Aerospace Corporation's eLab. "We aim to generate a wide range of ideas, some of which may seed amazing transformations within the space enterprise. Together, we'll reimagine how the space enterprise can accelerate development, cultivate robust innovation ecosystems, and strategically align investments in response to national imperatives." Other Space Transformation track panels will address: * Integrating civil, national security, and commercial systems into hybrid architectures that can adapt to fast-moving markets and emerging threats * The evolution of launch amid the constant demand for ensured access to space * Industry's importance in the next era of NASA space science and exploration. Confirmed Space Transformation speakers include: * Alyssa Goessler, Vice President, AE Industrial Partners * Clay Mowry, CEO, AIAA * Laura Maginnis, Vice President, New Glenn Mission Management, Blue Origin * David Cavossa, President, Commercial Space Federation * Dave Gauthier, Chief Strategy Officer, GXO Inc. * Brad Bailey, Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, NASA * Al Tadros, Chief Technology Officer, Redwire * Andy Bunker, Vice President, Government Operations & Business Strategy, Rocket Lab * Adrian Thompson, Chief AI & Innovation Officer, Slingshot Aerospace * Devon Papandrew, Vice President, Business Development, Stoke Space * Clint Hunt, Director, Intelligence and Defense Programs, ULA * Gillian Bussey, Deputy Chief Science Officer, U.S. Space Force * Caryn Schenewerk, Chief Policy Officer, Vast * Paul Tilghman, Chief Technology Officer, Voyager Technologies