Montgomery “Blair” Kirk, program manager for the Joint Staff’s Deputy Directorate for Global Operations, J-39, has been appointed director of operations for the National Reconnaissance Office Vandenberg in California, he announced in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday.
He will rejoin the NRO’s office of space launch in the summer of 2023.
Kirk previously held the roles of executive officer for the special programs directorate at the U.S. Space Force and chief of systems integration and test at the U.S. Air Force.
Prior to his return to the military branch, he spent four years at the NRO, where he served as deputy chief for the advanced programs branch and later served as launch integration and operations chief.
Earlier in his career, Kirk was deputy commander of satellite command and control operations and a space flight test engineer for the Air Force.
NRO Vandenberg provides operations, security, safety, integration and communications support for NRO payloads launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
