Scotty Van Sant
Partner
Mr. Van Sant entered active duty in 1991 and served 20-years in the United States Air Force in various capacities from a Missile Combat Crew Commander at Grand Forks AFB, ND to an Undergraduate Space and Missile Instructor at Vandenberg AFB, CA to a Flight Commander in the 2nd Space Launch Squadron working on the Delta, Atlas and Titan programs. Scotty culminated his active-duty career at Headquarters USSTRATCOM wherein he had been the Operationally Responsive Space Project Officer, a liaison to NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Support Office following the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy and lastly an Executive Officer for the Global Strike J3.
Upon retirement, Scotty accepted a civil service position in USSTRATCOM J5 to revise Joint Publication 3-14, Space Operations. From 2012-2023, he led the Command’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Information and Data Sharing Program. Scotty’s team at USSTRATCOM, and later USSPACECOM, negotiated SSA data sharing agreements with 33 space faring nations (and 160 commercial companies) which remain foundational for all space related engagement. From 2016-2019, Scotty directly contributed to the re-establishment of USSPACECOM and the establishment of the National Space Defense Center through the Joint Space Doctrine and Tactics Forum, a monthly 12-Star engagement preparing the US to fight and win a war in Space.
In 2020, Scotty was awarded a Meritorious Civilian Service Award from USSOUTHCOM for his efforts in negotiating space data sharing agreements with Peru, Chile, and Brazil.
In 2023, at Cali’s Marco Fidel Suárez Air Base, Scotty was personally awarded the inaugural Ad Astra Medal from President Iván Duque of Colombia for his herculean efforts progressing the Colombian Air Force’s space domain awareness enterprise.
In September 2026, Scotty retired from civil service.
Scotty is married to the former Mrs. Kristie Ann Hoge of Delaware, Ohio. They have 19-year-old boy-girl twins, Kyle and Katie who are in the class of 2029 at Stanford and The Ohio State University, respectively. Scott and Kristie have two exotic shorthair Persians, Truffle and Cosmo. In his spare time, Scotty enjoys the occasional fermented beverage and as much golf as Kristie will permit.
In 2024, Scotty and Colonel (Ret) Lina Cashin stood up the Nebraska Chapter of the Space Force Association to ensure recognition of the local Guardians and educate the public that there actually is a SF.