The National Space Society announced Jan. 9 that retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Paul Damphousse has been named executive director of the 25-year-old, Washington-based advocacy organization.

Damphousse, a combat pilot who concluded his 22-year military career as the National Security Space Office’s chief of advanced concepts, replaces Gary Barnhard, who had held the job since April 2010.

Prior to retiring from the Marines in 2011, Damphousse advised U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on civil and national security space matters as a NASA fellow.