Robert W. Thomas, Jr.
United States Space Command
Director of the Capability and Resource Integration Directorate
Director of the Capability and Resource Integration Directorate
UPCOMING EVENT
Space Warfighting Industry Forum (SWIF)
Space Warfighting Industry Forum (SWIF)
Bio
Robert W. Thomas Jr. is a member of the Senior Executive Service and the Director of the Capability and Resource Integration Directorate, United States Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. He is responsible for establishing the command’s requirements and advocating for the assigned missions of deterring aggression and conflict, protecting and defending U.S. interests in the space domain, delivering space combat power for joint and combined forces, and developing ready and lethal joint warfighters.Mr. Thomas graduated with a bachelor's degree in Management Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and received a military commission via the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps program in 1994. He holds master’s degrees from Naval Postgraduate School (Leadership and Human Resource Development), the Air Force’s Air University (Military Operations), and Missouri State University (Defense and Strategic Studies).
His 20-year Navy career included three tours on both attack and ballistic missile submarines, concluding as the Executive Officer on USS Maine SSBN-741 (Blue) in 2009. He also served as a Company Officer and instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1999-2002 and as Carrier Strike Group TEN’s Training Officer and Submarine Element Coordinator from 2005-2006. Arriving at USSTRATCOM in 2009, he held various positions in the Capability and Resource Integration Directorate and has worked on a number of nuclear delivery and weapon sustainment and modernization programs including the Columbia-class SSBN, Ground Based Strategic Deterrent ICBM, Long Range Standoff Cruise Missile, and the B-21 bomber.
Mr. Thomas also functions in a cross-directorate team advising the combatant commander on a range of policy issues spanning force posture and employment, space systems architecture and modernization, and acquisition reform to deliver capabilities to the warfighter in relevant timelines.