CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN SPACE FORCE STATION, Colo. –
Deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, where a missile warning watch has been stood without interruption since 1966, the Missile Warning Center held a change of command ceremony May 8, 2026, as U.S. Navy Capt. Jermaine “JB” Brooms relinquished command to U.S. Navy Capt. Gregory “O.G.” Arnold before an audience of senior leaders, family members and the Sentinels of the MWC.
The ceremony was presided over by U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Dennis Bythewood, U.S. Space Forces–Space (S4S) and Combined Joint Force Space Component commander — a reflection of the MWC’s identity as one of the War Department’s most deeply joint organizations.
Bythewood described the MWC as the “hub of what we call no-fail missions across the department,” emphasizing that strategic warning is where “every other action begins.”
Brooms departs after leading the MWC through one of the most operationally demanding periods in the center’s history. During his command, the unit processed more than 7,700 global missile events and 190 space launches amid a 76% surge in operations. That tempo spanned the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Iranian salvos against Israel, attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Operation Epic Fury.
Notably, MWC crews delivered the first notification during the India-Pakistan crisis — a four-day conflict in May 2025 in which two nuclear-armed nations exchanged missile and drone strikes for the first time — providing national leaders with the time-sensitive warning required for decision-making at the highest levels. Under Brooms’ leadership, the MWC also eliminated a 17-year-old legacy qualification program, modernizing how it prepares operators for an increasingly complex threat environment.
Bythewood credited Brooms not only for operational performance, but for the culture he built inside the organization.
“He is an amazing officer within the Navy, executing his mission every day,” Bythewood said. “When you’ve got a great attitude walking through this mix, it takes the teamwork that we have to crank through day to day, and it makes it something that pulls the team together.”
In his farewell remarks, Brooms shifted the focus away from operational statistics and onto the people behind the mission. “Over the past two years, I have been humbled to stand with the men and women of the MWC,” Brooms said. “You are the nation’s silent sentinels, and it has been the honor of my career to serve as your commander.”
Brooms will next serve as deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21 in San Diego.
Assuming command is Arnold, whose selection carries its own historic distinction. He is the first maritime space officer to lead an Information Warfare Community major command, reflecting both his individual career and the growing integration of space expertise in the maritime domain, a necessity given the Fleet has been designed assuming access to space capabilities.
Known in joint space circles as “Space Greg,” Arnold was praised during the ceremony for his ability to translate the needs of tactical forces into requirements for U.S. Space Command — a skill honed during his recent assignment as executive officer to the USSPACECOM commander.
His career has helped shape the joint space enterprise in lasting ways, including leading efforts to establish the National Space Defense Center and developing a Pacific Fleet survivability strategy that contributed to the stand-up of Fleet Information Warfare Command – Pacific.
As he assumed command, Arnold reflected on the MWC’s long institutional history and the responsibility carried by a watch that has endured since the earliest days of the space age.
“This is a place where strategic warning begins — warning that is assessed by NORAD and other combatant commanders and ultimately reaches the president of the United States,” Arnold said. “Timely, accurate, unambiguous, every single time.”
He closed with a direct message to both his predecessor and his new team.
“Captain Brooms — I have the watch,” Arnold said. “To the Sentinels: I look forward to serving with you.”
The Missile Warning Center provides 24/7 global surveillance and rapid threat validation to deliver critical attack information that ensures the survivability of the Joint Force and allied partners worldwide.