Bitterman will serve as SpaceX’s senior vice president of government affairs. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Bitterman would help promote SpaceX capabilities to critical policymakers.

   Bitterman spent nearly two decades at Orbital Sciences. He also served for four years at the U.S. Department of Defense as special assistant for intelligence, special operations and counter-drug policy, as well as on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the International Trade Advisory Committee to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.