President Donald Trump has nominated Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. to become the next commander of U.S. Space Command, putting him in line to lead the combatant command through its move to Redstone Arsenal.
The nomination was formally transmitted to the U.S. Senate, where Miller must be confirmed before taking command. He would succeed Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, who has led U.S. Space Command since January 2024 and is expected to retire.
If confirmed, Miller would also be promoted to four-star general.
The leadership transition comes at a pivotal time for Space Command as its permanent headquarters takes shape in Huntsville and hundreds of military and civilian personnel prepare to relocate to North Alabama.
Miller currently serves as the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements at the Pentagon. In that role, he is responsible to the secretary of the Air Force and chief of space operations for Space Force strategy, concepts, requirements and budget.
He is also no stranger to U.S. Space Command.
From 2021 to 2023, Miller served as the command’s director of operations, training and force development. He later commanded Space Operations Command at Peterson Space Force Base from January 2024 through November 2025 before moving into his current Pentagon position.
Miller was commissioned in 1993 and has held command positions at the squadron, group and wing levels during more than three decades of military service.
His nomination comes as the headquarters transition to Redstone moves from planning into a highly visible operational phase.
As 256 Today previously reported, Space Command opened its first operational office at Redstone in April, when Whiting cut the ribbon on the Joint Intelligence Support Element.
“Today we cut the ribbon on more than just a building,” Whiting said at the time as the command established its first operational foothold at its future permanent home.
By August, Whiting told a packed audience at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville that 113 Space Command personnel were already working at Redstone and about 200 were expected by the end of the year.
“We’re moving out at full speed to make the Rocket City and Redstone Arsenal our new home,” Whiting said.
More than half of the headquarters workforce is expected to be at Redstone by the end of 2028, with approximately 1,800 personnel ultimately expected in Huntsville when the transition is complete.
The physical headquarters is also moving forward.
256 Today reported in April that Whiting unveiled a conceptual rendering of the command’s future permanent warfighting headquarters at Redstone, offering the first public look at the facility planned for the Arsenal.
Trump has since requested $951 million in the fiscal 2027 budget to support the headquarters move, including design, construction, information technology and other costs associated with the new command complex.
Whiting has said the purpose-built headquarters will give Space Command something it has not had in Colorado Springs: a permanent facility designed specifically around its mission.
“We did not have that in Colorado,” Whiting said during an August update. “To get this facility is going to be an incredible accelerant to our mission.”
Miller would inherit responsibility for overseeing that transition while also commanding U.S. military operations in the space domain.
His background includes extensive operational space experience. Before his current Pentagon assignment, Miller commanded Space Operations Command and previously served in senior roles involving operations, cyber, nuclear policy and force development. His career began in intercontinental ballistic missile operations, and he has also served in space warning, space control and joint space operations assignments.
If confirmed by the Senate, Miller would take command as that footprint rapidly expands and Redstone Arsenal moves closer to becoming the permanent center of U.S. military space operations.
Got a tip for OTR? Send your tip to [email protected] with related photo/video, your name, phone number, and e-mail address.
