The Department of the Air Force has removed Derek Tournear from his position as director of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA). A department spokesperson confirmed that Tournear was placed on administrative leave on January 16th, pending the results of an ongoing investigation, but declined to offer specifics.
Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, is now serving as acting director. Unofficial sources suggest the investigation may be related to complaints from contractors regarding the SDA’s procurement strategies and allegations of inappropriate handling of proprietary information.
Tournear's tenure, beginning in 2019, saw the SDA adopt a disruptive approach to military space acquisitions. This involved a shift towards constellations of smaller, commercially-derived spacecraft, a departure from traditional, larger, and more expensive satellite systems. This strategy, central to the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, has resulted in the deployment of 27 satellites, with plans to launch over 160 more in the next 18 months.
Despite securing over $4.2 billion in funding, thanks in part to strong congressional and industry support, Tournear's methods have also faced criticism. Recent tensions between Tournear and his superior, outgoing assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisitions Frank Calvelli, have been reported. Calvelli, in a final interview with Breaking Defense, voiced concerns about the pace of deployments, stating, “It doesn’t matter how fast we build them if no one uses them.”