Thomas L. James

James first enlisted in the Mississippi National Guard in 1983, where he was assigned in medical and special forces units. After obtaining a degree, he was commissioned into the United States Army in 1990 as an army aviator.^[2]

On 15 July 2014, James took command of the 1st Space Brigade.^[3] After this command tour, he was assigned as the director of space policy implementation of Office of the Under Secretary for Policy.^[2]

James served as deputy commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space. While in this position, he was promoted to brigadier general on 14 November 2017.^[4][5] After a 2017 reorganization, he then served as the director of operations, plans, and exercises of the Joint Force Space Component Command.^[6]

With the creation of the United States Space Command in August 2019, James became the director of operations while dual-hatted as the first commander of the newly established Joint Task Force–Space Defense (JTF-SD).^[7] After almost two years, he was nominated for promotion to major general.^[8] In 2021, he released his vision for the unit.^[9] He got promoted on 29 July 2021, making him the first Army space operations officer to achieve the rank of major general.^[10]

James relinquished command of JTF-SD on 4 November 2022.^[11] He thereafter was assigned as deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Space Operations, a planned subordinate command of U.S. Space Command.^[2]

In July 2023, James was nominated for promotion to lieutenant general with assignment as the deputy commander of United States Space Command.^[12][13]