Jason Dean – Space Team Lead
Jason Dean has over 20 years of space experience focusing on Electronic Warfare, systems Acquisitions and Satellite Rendezvous and Proximity Operations. Jason retired from the Air Force in June 2019 as the Strategy Division Branch Chief for the National Space Defense Center. While there, he was the enlisted lead for space defense strategy development and recommendations to US Strategic Command. Prior to that, Jason served as the Section Chief for Plans and Architecture at the 16th Space Control Squadron where he led a team responsible for acquiring Air Force Space Commands (AFSPC) newest Defensive Space Control systems. Jason also served as the Flight Chief of operations support for the 1st Space Operations Squadron where he helped lead an 8-man team responsible for the acquisition and operationalization of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program and the mission planning and orbital analysis for AFSPC’s sole space based SSA sensors (GSSAP, SBSS and ATRR). Jason also served as the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) of Operations Training for the Upgraded Early Warning Solid-State Phased Array Radar at the 12th Space Warning Squadron in Thule AB, Greenland and the NCOIC of the Advanced Capabilities Environment for the 25th Space Range Squadron responsible for Tactics and Technique development and training for tailored Electronic Warfare (EW) systems. During this time, he deployed to Al Udeid, Qatar, and led strategy development for EW systems. His earliest assignments include Operations Training NCO and Subject Matter Expert for the 4th Space Control Squadron developing operations and training for the Counter Communications Systems over 40 operators as well as a Data Systems Supervisor and line instructor for Space Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) and the Defense Support Program’s (DSP) satellite constellations of space-based Missile Warning sensors. Jason is a graduate of the Advanced Orbital Mechanics, Advanced Space Situational Awareness and Space 200 courses from the National Security Space Institute, is Acquisitions certified from Defense Acquisition University and holds a degree in Space Operations Technology. He is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant.
Senior Instructors
Jack Anthony
Jack Anthony served 44 years in many space research, engineering, operations, leadership, program management and education roles, including 26 years in the US Air Force. He worked in the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and in many roles with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Notable assignments include US Air Force Academy astronautics teacher, squadron commander, program manager for the development and flight of space vehicles, aircraft flight test engineer, space control system operations officer. In 2003, he served as the Department of Defense liaison deployed to NASA Johnson Space Center in support of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation. In 1984 he was selected to be a visiting educator at the USAF Test Pilot School for AF Shuttle payload specialist. Jack has 18 years as a contractor supporting the Air Force and Space Force. He’s served as a spacecraft operations leader and technical advisor for orbit maneuvering and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) missions. He was the operations leader for USAF Academy FalconSAT spacecraft operations with the cadet crew force. He served in the Space Security and Defense Program (SSDP) as a technical advisor, program manager and engineer leading several space defense and satellite protection related studies and analyses. Presently he serves as an advisor in the National Space Defense Center/Joint Task Force-Space Defense and mentor space and intelligence experts standing watch at this critical space defense operations center. In this role, he is “on-call” advisor called in when his experience and know-how are deemed helpful to current situations. He teaches military personnel understand orbit mechanics, RPO and other sometimes confusing spaceflight dynamics situations. He earned the call sign “Sensei” and tries to live up to its meaning as an operator, engineer and teacher. Recently he was selected to be a consultant for the Royal Australian Air Force space operations program. Jack is also on the Board of Directors for the Alaska Aerospace Corporation which operates the Kodiak Space Launch Complex. Jack is a retired USAF Colonel.
Dr. Joe Bassi
Joseph P. (Joe) Bassi is a senior space instructor, adjunct professor at Angelo State University and adjunct lecturer at the University of Texas/El Paso (National Security Studies). He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and specializes in the history of space sciences, and US science policy. His is also an elected life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. During his PhD program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr. Bassi was a Guggenheim pre-doctoral fellow in Space History at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He has also been a NASA Space Grant research fellow at the Space Policy Institute/George Washington University and was at one time employed by the Aerospace Corporation as an advisor to JFCC-Space/J2 at Vandenberg AFB. From 2010 until 2017 retirement, he was an assistant professor of arts and science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University/Worldwide. Joe served twenty-six years on active duty, including space-related command, staff, operational, and teaching assignments. He also has Masters degrees in Meteorology (Penn State), Astrophysics (University of Colorado), and History (George Washington University). He graduated from Manhattan College in the Bronx, New York with a BS in Physics (Phi Beta Kappa) and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC program and has completed many professional military education programs. Joe is a retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel.
Scott Brodeur
Scott Brodeur served over 25 years in the United States Space Force and Air Force. He is a space command and control expert and the only officer to command the Joint Space Operations Center, Combined Space Operations Center, and National Space Defense Center. He strengthened our coalition partner relationships, space situational awareness, data sharing and interoperability between US and coalition/allied space operations centers in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, South Korea, and NATO. He normalized commercial space integration and information sharing through USSPACECOM’s Commercial Integration Cell and JTF-Space Defense Commercial Office. He served in a variety of operational assignments in space electronic warfare, space defense, space battle management, space command and control, special programs, and he deployed numerous times in support of contingency operations worldwide to include I Marine Expeditionary Force surge in Fallujah, Iraq 2007-08. He commanded the 4th Space Control Squadron, 1st Expeditionary Space Control Squadron (Afghanistan), and the 614th Air Operations Center. Mr. Brodeur is a graduate of the College of Charleston in South Carolina earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He is a USAF Weapons School graduate and Weapons School instructor and earned master’s degrees from Central Michigan University, Air Command and Staff College, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, and US Army War College. Additionally, he completed a leadership and decision-making executive leadership program at Harvard Kennedy School. Mr. Brodeur is a Non-resident Senior Space Fellow at the Mitchell Institute, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. where he provides space operations expertise and thought leadership on current space issues. He is writing a book on space command and control. Scott is also the co-founder of Trifecta Space Solutions, LLC providing strategic consulting to a variety of clients on strategic communications, coalition space integration and space operations center interoperability, commercial space integration, and space professional education, exercises, and wargames. He is a retired USSF Colonel.
Greg Gillinger
Greg Gillinger has over 26 years of ISR experience with a focus on the information (cyber) and space domains. Greg’s last Air Force assignment was as the ISR Director for 14th AF (the Space NAF) as well as the Chief of the ISR Directorate in the Combined Space Operations Center. While at Vandenberg he led the creation of the first ISR mission qualification training program. Greg also served as the Vice Wing Commander of the 70th ISR Wing at Fort Meade MD, where he helped lead a 5,700 member organization to two consecutive Air Force Outstanding Unit awards. Greg also was selected to serve in the National Security Council under President Obama. There he advised and authored cyber, space and ISR policy recommendations and coordinated whole of government responses to international events such as the North Korean hacking of Sony Pictures and the Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine. He deployed to Al Udeid, Qatar, and led analytical efforts as the Deputy Chief of the ISR Division and coordinated the intelligence response to an Iranian attempt to shoot down a US unmanned aerial vehicle. In addition to teaching at ISR University, Mr Gillinger is a program manager for AT&T and delivers connectivity solutions and intelligence professional services across the Air Force. Greg holds of Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, and a Master of Science in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where he majored in Political Science and History. Greg is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel.
Instructors
Dr. Larissa Beavers
Larissa Beavers is a Senior Space Curriculum Developer and Instructor. She served as a US Air Force intelligence analyst and a First Sergeant, and was an intelligence instructor at the space operator school, Vandenberg SFB, CA. There she provided intelligence expertise regarding adversary space capabilities and their impact on space operations for the U.S. and allied partners. Dr. Beavers holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Intelligence, a Master of Arts in Intelligence Studies, and a Doctorate in Strategic Intelligence from American Public University. Throughout her career as an intelligence analyst she has specialized in signals analysis, all-source analysis, and providing strategic level intelligence analysis for the space enterprise. Her hobbies include spending time with her three boys, running, and writing. Larissa is a retired USAF Master Sergeant.
Jayci Cachuela
Jayci Cachuela has extensive ISR experience with a focus on UAV operations and the space domain. Jayci’s last military assignment was as the Chief of the Space Analysis Branch at the Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC) where she developed the first CFSCC/CJ2 training program. While at Vandenberg, she also led the Analysis, Correlation, Fusion team at the Combined Space Operations Center providing adversary use of space updates to five combatant commands, the Combined Space Operations Center, CFSCC, and Coalition Space Operations Centers. Jayci also served as the Assistant Director of Operations at the 94th Intelligence Squadron and was responsible for providing global threat warning to troops on the ground through the use of UAVs and manned reconnaissance flights. Her earliest assignments include Flight Commander for the Standardization and Evaluation Team and Mission Operations Commander for both UAVs and manned aerial vehicle flights at the 13th Intelligence Squadron. She has been deployed to Al Udeid as an Intelligence Engagement Officer. While there, she stood up the first intelligence tactical coordinator program for partner nations. Jayci has also been deployed to Mali, where she worked as a UN Military Intelligence Advisor for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali mentoring 21 partner nations to combat the very extremist organization situation in West Africa. Currently, Jayci is an Independent Consultant for ISR University. She holds a Master of Science in Intelligence Studies from the American Military University and is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego where she majored in Political Science/International Relations. Jayci is a former U.S. Air Force officer.
Bryan Card
Bryan Card, PMP, is assigned to the International Partnerships Branch of the United States Space Force. Recently, Bryan served as the Assistant Director of Operations at the 533 Training Squadron, where he helped lead the transformation of Undergraduate Space Training by instilling warfighting context and culture into the course. Bryan also served as the chief of weapons and tactics for the 710th Combat Operations Squadron, where he was responsible for training and tactics development for the 110-member operational command and control squadron. Prior to joining the Air Force Reserves, Bryan spent five years in the US Army, serving as an air defense officer and infantryman. Bryan has been deployed to the Combined Air Operations Center in Al Udeid, where he served as a nonkinetic duty officer, integrating air, space, and cyber capabilities into joint operations against ISIS. He also deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 as part of Task Force Bayonet. In addition to being adjunct faculty at ISR University, Bryan is contract support to Air Combat Command’s Weapons and Tactics Branch. Bryan is a graduate of the US Air Force Weapons School and the Joint Interface Control Officer Course. He holds a Master of Science in Intelligence and National Security Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stanford University. Bryan is a reserve officer in the U.S. Air Force.
Ben Large
Ben Large has over 21 years of Air C2, Space and ISR experience. He is a Combat-proven warfighter, and has served on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the South Atlantic, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. An Air Battle Manager by background, he flew over 2500 hours on AWACS between 2004 and 2013 as a Weapons controller, Senior Director and Mission Crew Commander, instructor and evaluator. During this time, he was also a Qualified Multi-Engine Tactics Instructor (RAF Weapons School Graduate), specializing in Air C2 and ISR, and deployed as the RAF’s ISR and RPA specialist to CAOC CENTCOM. In 2013 he undertook an assignment to HQ NATO Air Command as a NATO operational planner and Air C2 Systems expert; here he led a Crisis Action Team for the HQ in response to the Ukraine crises. In 2015 Ben returned to the UK to assume the role of National Representative; he held Tactical Command of the UK’s air defense system, providing military advice to the highest levels of Government. In 2016, he was appointed as an Exchange Officer with US Air and Space Forces at Vandenberg SFB, a position he held for 5 years. He was a Space operations strategist and planner, and the first UK Chief of Current Operations to serve at the Combined Space Operations Center. Ben is an instructor and course developer, in addition to being an Air & Space C2 consultant and RAF Reservist. Ben is a graduate of Imperial College, London, where he studied Geology. Ben is a retired Royal Air Force Wing Commander (United Kingdom).