Trump nominates General Douglas Schiess to command the US Army Space Force

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has nominated General Douglas Schiess to lead the United States Army Space Force as Chief of Operations, the third since the creation of this department in 2019.

Schiess, if his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, would succeed Gen. Chance Saltzman, who has led the Space Force since November 2022 and is expected to retire at the end of this year.

Since November 2025, Schiess has served as Deputy Chief of Space Operations, responsible for global operations development, and has also acted as Deputy Chief of Space Operations for all Joint Staff matters.

Among the projects being worked on by the Space Force is, for example, the secret unmanned space plane X-37B, which in March successfully completed its seventh mission with its return to Earth after remaining in orbit for more than 434 days.