"Never go into a war counting on commercial SATCOM.” It sounded like good advice in December 2001 when I received an e-mail containing that quote from my mentor, Nick Balovich. Back then, I shared the universal truth that the U.S. government had to own and operate all the communications systems supporting our forces.

The Berlin Wall began to crumble in November 1989; the satellite communications system designed to counter the Cold War threats behind that wall had a first launch in February 1994. If delivering a relevant system before the threat changes is a measure of effectiveness, the U.S. military failed that test with MILSTAR, and our space systems requirements and procurement process continues to fail this test.