WASHINGTON — Former Texas congressman William “Mac” Thornbery, who led the House Armed Services Committee, has joined the board of advisers of CesiumAstro, a company that specializes in communications technologies for satellites and aircraft.
Thornberry will advise CesiumAstro, based in Austin, Texas, on national security issues and on ways to “better support the intelligence community and Department of Defense,” the company said May 9 in a statement.
CesiumAstro is seeking to add more government customers for its active phased array communications terminals.
Thornberry chaired the HASC from 2015 until 2019 and served as the committee’s ranking Republican until he retired from Congress in January 2021. While in Congress, he advocated for Pentagon procurement reforms to lower barriers to startups and small businesses that develop technologies with military utility.
CesiumAstro’s board of advisers also includes former NASA administrators and former undersecretary of defense Mike Griffin, and former deputy undersecretary of defense Lisa Porter.
HawkEye 360 names new advisors
Thornberry is also on the advisory board of HawkEye 360, a provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics.
The company on May 9 announced it is adding four new advisers, bringing the total number of advisory board members to 22.
The four new members are former U.S. lawmaker Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), retired general John Abizaid, former deputy undersecretary of defense Kari Bingen and conservation scientist M. Sanjayan.
