About

The Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and its Forward Defense program have launched the Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force to benchmark current US efforts to develop offensive hypersonic weapons and defensive counter-hypersonic capabilities. The task force, which convenes stakeholders across the public and private sectors, aims to map where the United States is behind on hypersonic-capability developments, identify where the United States could address key deterrence shortfalls, and recommend solutions to obstacles standing in the way of a more robust national approach to hypersonic capabilities.

Task Force Co-Chairs

Secretary Deborah Lee James

23rd Secretary of the Air Force; Atlantic Council Board Director

Secretary Ryan McCarthy

24th Secretary of the Army

Task Force Members

Jim Cooper

Former US Representative (D-TN-5); Former Chairman, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee

Madelyn Creedon

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs

Doug Lamborn

Former US Representative (R-CO-5); Former Chairman, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee

James McConville

US Army General, Retired; 40th Army Chief of Staff

Whitney McNamara

Senior Vice President, Beacon Global Strategies; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Forward Defense, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Industry Task Force Members

Felipe Gomez del Campo

CEO, Specter Aerospace

Mick Maher

Fellow—Defense Programs, Amaero International Ltd

Katrina “Kat” Hornstein

Hypersonics Portfolio Director, Ursa Major

Michael Johns

Senior Vice President, Kratos

Cameron McCord

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Nominal

Mike Manazir

Vice President, Federal for Hadrian

Mark Rettig

Vice President and General Manager of New and Derivative Products at GE Aerospace

Ralph Sandfry

Director for Hypersonics and Directed Energy, Lockheed Martin

Zach Shore

Chief Revenue Officer, Hermeus

Brian Zimmermann

Senior Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton

Senior Advisors

Reggie Brothers

Former Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the US Department of Homeland Security

Justin T. Johnson

Former Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy

Author

Michael E. White
Former Principal Director for Hypersonics in the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (Modernization)
US Department of Defense

Task Force Director

Stephen Rodriguez
Senior Advisor
Forward Defense, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Task Force Sponsors

Meet the Project Team

Staff

Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

Director, Forward Defense

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense NATO

Staff

Mark J. Massa

Deputy Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy National Security

Staff

Alyxandra Marine

Assistant Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Crisis Management Defense Policy

Staff

Jonathan Rosenstein

Program Assistant

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy Nuclear Deterrence

Related content

In the News

Mar 7, 2025

Leaders of Hypersonics Capabilities Task Force author SpaceNews op-ed

By Atlantic Council

On March 6, Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force co-chairs Deborah Lee James, Ryan McCarthy, and lead author, Michael E. White, published an op-ed in SpaceNews entitled, “How the nation can make fielding hypersonic capabilities a national priority.” The article argues that the U.S. must urgently prioritize the development and deployment of hypersonic capabilities to counter growing […]

China Defense Policy

Announcements

Jan 24, 2025

Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program launches Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force

WASHINGTON, JANUARY 24, 2025 — The Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program has convened former government officials and industry leaders on a Hypersonic Capabilities Task Force to address the opportunities that hypersonic capabilities offer to the United States to enhance deterrence and the challenges posed by adversary hypersonic capabilities. 

China Defense Policy

More from the Atlantic Council on Hypersonic Capabilities

Strategic Insights Memo

Mar 12, 2025

The hypersonic imperative

By Michael E. White

Hypersonic weapons and counter-hypersonic defenses will be essential for the United States to deter and, if necessary, prevail in a war against one or more great powers. This is why the Department of Defense and Congress must prioritize the accelerated fielding of these capabilities.

China Defense Industry

Report

Jan 4, 2025

‘First, we will defend the homeland’: The case for homeland missile defense

By Robert Soofer with contributions from Kari Anderson, James McCue, Tom Karako, Mark J. Massa, Alyxandra Marine, and Jonathan Rosenstein

A comprehensive analysis of U.S. homeland missile defense, addressing policies, security challenges, and strategies to counter threats from North Korea, China, and Russia.

China Defense Technologies

Issue Brief

Nov 15, 2023

US homeland missile defense: Room for expanded roles

By Robert Soofer and Matthew Costlow

Matthew Costlow & Robert Soofer explore how expanded roles for US homeland missile defense could enhance deterrence with two nuclear peers

China Defense Policy

Report

Aug 17, 2020

Primer on hypersonic weapons in the Indo-Pacific region

By John T. Watts, Christian Trotti, and Mark J. Massa

Hypersonic weapons are nearing maturation, but debates about their military relevance are often defined solely by technology. This primer situates hypersonic weapons within the regional context of the Indo-Pacific to provide a foundation for strategic analysis.

China Defense Industry

Issue Brief

Mar 6, 2020

Russia’s exotic nuclear weapons and implications for the United States and NATO

By Matthew Kroenig, Mark J. Massa, Christian Trotti

Great-power competition has returned, and with it, the importance of nuclear weapons in international politics.

Defense Technologies Nuclear Deterrence

Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.

Learn more