Ms. Deanna Ryals, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Director of Space International Affairs in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs. In this capacity, she is the principal advisor on space international affairs to senior Department of the Air Force leaders, including the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Space Operations.

Ms Ryals owns the policy and process that makes partner integration happen. She leads teams managing space security cooperation functions that include international armaments cooperation, foreign military sales, politico-military matters and education programs.

Highlights of her extensive international experience include championing the largest space international partnership in Air Force history with the Wideband Global SATCOM system multinational agreement; spearheading the first hosted national security space payload on a foreign satellite via a partnership with Norway; leading the collaboration between the U.S. Air Force and Japanese Ministry of Defense to host the first Space Domain Awareness payload on Japan’s Positioning, Navigation and Timing satellites; and advancing the groundbreaking partnership through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Support and Procurement Agency, enabling NATO partners to procure commercial SATCOM capabilities together.