10 U.S.C. § 9021 — Space Acquisition Council

(a) There is a council in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force called the "Space Acquisition Council" (called "the Council" in this section).

(b) The Council's members are: (1) the Under Secretary of the Air Force; (2) the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, who chairs it; (3) the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy; (4) the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office; (5) the Chief of Space Operations; and (6) the Commander of the United States Space Command.

(c) Duties. (1) The Council oversees, directs, and manages how the armed forces^* acquire and integrate space systems and programs, to keep the national security space effort unified.

(2) The Council must promptly: (i) review any architecture decision the Assistant Secretary for Space Acquisition and Integration makes about space systems or programs under section 9016(b)(6)(B)(i), including requirements for operating them; and (ii) either certify that decision, if the Council finds it justified, or decline to certify it if not. Within 10 business days of making that finding, the Council must notify the congressional defense committees^*, with a detailed explanation. Unless a waiver applies, the Assistant Secretary cannot act on that decision until 30 days after the Council sends its notification. The Secretary of Defense may waive that 30-day wait if there's an urgent national security need, but must then notify the congressional defense committees of the waiver and explain why it was needed.

(d) The Council must meet at least once a month.

(e) Through the first quarter of 2025, the Council must send the congressional defense committees a report, within 30 days after each calendar quarter ends, describing what the Council did during the previous quarter.