Central ND News

North Dakota is set to receive officers from the U.S. Navy at Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB). U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced that the Navy will be assigning officers, referred to as billets, to join U.S. Air Force and Space Force officers at the Space Development Agency (SDA) Operations Center in Grand Forks. The first Navy billet will arrive in a few weeks with more set to arrive over the next year. Cramer recently secured the commitment for these positions from Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti.

“The multi-service military and civilian workforce team continues to grow at Grand Forks Air Force Base,” said Cramer. “I recently met with the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Franchetti and received a commitment that the Navy is assigning officers to join Air Force and Space Force officers in Grand Forks. The first Navy billet will arrive in a few weeks with more to follow next year.”

In total, SDA is authorized five billets at GFAFB. Two of these billets are from the Navy, and the remaining three are from the Space Force. While the Navy has authorized two lieutenant commanders (O-4) from the Intelligence Officer career field, filling these vacancies has been delayed. Without these billets filled, the agency faces degraded capabilities.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services (SASC) Subcommittee on Seapower, Cramer has pushed to fill these positions in Grand Forks and has supported legislation and initiatives to bolster the Navy’s capabilities. Through SASC, he questioned Navy leadership on ways to retain a workforce long enough to keep building ships and emphasized learning, experimenting, and scaling emerging technologies ahead of United States adversaries.