Vanguard Magazine

12 APRIL/MAY 2021 www.vanguardcanada.com INTERVIEW SPACE TO NATIONAL SECURITY The Role and Importance BY MARCELLO SUKHDEO R ecently, Vanguard had the opportunity to interview Brigadier-General G. Mi- chael (Mike) Adamson. Since joining the Canadian Air Force in 1993, BGen Adamson has served in numerous posts, including a CP- 140(A) Nav/Com, Crew Commander, and Sqn Standards and Training Officer at the 405 (Maritime Patrol) Squadron in Greenwood, NS and at the 404 (Maritime Patrol and Training) Squadron where he served as an Instructor, Simulator Opera- tor, Crew Commander, Standards Officer and Chief Aircrew Instructor. Other roles were as Deputy Command- ing Officer and then as Commanding Of- ficer at 405 Long Range Patrol Squadron, the Strategic Coordination Staff Officer for Chief of Force Development, and Chief of the Air Coordination Element support- ing Maritime Security and Counter-Piracy operations in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean. In 2014, he was the Executive As- sistant to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and a year later assumed duties with Chief of Force Development as Director C4ISR. In May 2020, he was promoted to his current rank and assumed the role dian and Allied capabilities through Space Support Requests. I think my background on the CP140 and certain HQ tours and deploy- ments have really helped me understand the im- portance of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Domain Awareness, and Joint/Combined operations. Although the Space enterprise is nested within the Air Force, it is really a Joint capability that requires an understanding of operations across all the domains – including Cyber – and it is important to make sure that we educate our 'customer base' (operators) on what Space can provide, and how to best leverage those enablers in the conduct of their operations. Q Can you provide update on the internal re-alignment of Space functions within your department? Is Space going to evolve into its own Division of the RCAF, and if so, what will that Division look like? How will personnel be man- aged, and will there be a Space Opera- tions career field? All of our allies are recognizing the growing role and importance of Space to National Security, and operations, and we are all un- dertaking some sort of organizational evo- lution to reflect that new reality. The most obvious example would be the creation of the Space Force and Space Command in the United States. While we may not a trans- formation quite as extensive as that, we are looking at re-aligning the Space enterprise and functions along lines similar to the conduct of Air operations in the RCAF. To that end, we are proposing the creation of a Space Division (similar in function to 1 Canadian Air Division) that will be respon- AN INTERVIEW WITH BGEN MICHAEL ADAMSON, DIRECTOR GENERAL SPACE AND THE JOINT FORCE SPACE COMPONENT COMMANDER, RCAF of RCAF Director General Space and the Joint Force Space Component Com- mander in June 2020. Q To begin, please give us an over- view of your responsibilities and how your career has prepared you for your current role? Currently I wear two different hats, with two distinct sets of responsibilities. As DG Space, I am responsible to the Com- mander of the RCAF for the management of the space enterprise in the CAF. This includes institutional functions, such as liaison and interaction with any number of our partners – whether internal to DND, other Government departments, private industry, and of course our Alli- ance partners and like-minded nations. As the JFSCC (Joint Force Space Com- ponent Commander), my responsibilities are really the provision and coordination of space effects and enablers for CAF op- erations, both at home and abroad. This is mostly accomplished through our per- sonnel at the Canadian Space Operations Centre (CanSpOC) who provide Intelli- gence, Analysis, and access to both Cana- of

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