On July 5, General Ju Qiansheng was promoted to full general and named the new Commander of the PLA Strategic Support Force (SSF). He is the third PLA SSF commander in almost six years, succeeding General Li Fengbiao and General Gao Jin, who assumed command in 2019 and 2015, respectively. As with other PLA SSF Commanders, General Ju Qiansheng has long kept a low profile. In 2019 he was identified as the commander of the PLA SSF Network Systems Department (NSD). In this position, he was probably also a Deputy Commander of the PLA SSF.  An unverified Chinese media source claims that Ju Qiansheng was born in May 1962, and was a Deputy Director of the former PLA General Staff Department (GSD) Technical Reconnaissance Department. Today, the Technical Reconnaissance Department, known formerly as the GSD Third Department, or 3PLA, likely constitutes the backbone of the NSD. In the 2009-2010 timeframe, Ju Qiansheng directed the former GSD Technical Reconnaissance Department 12th Bureau, which likely had a space mission. Ju Qiansheng is the first PLASSF commander to be promoted from within and is also the first Commander with a background in operational-level assignments within the PLA’s space, technical reconnaissance, or electronic countermeasures.  Ju Qiansheng’s promotion may reflect the disproportional influence of the NSD – essentially the streamlined former GSD Third Department – within the PLASSF, and perhaps even within the entire PLA. Besides carrying out well-documented offensive cyber activities, the NSD likely shoulders the critical mission of operationalizing the PLA’s “integrated network, electromagnetic operations and psychological warfare” doctrine. The NSD likely also plays a significant role in requirements development and acquisition of strategic electronic warfare and computer network systems.

(COMMENT: Analysts speculate that if internal promotions become the norm for the PLASSF going forward, one of the senior leaders of the PLASSF Space Systems Department (SSD) will likely become a candidate for the next PLASSF commander. Of course, given the strategic significance of the PLASSF and its mission, that candidate must prove himself to be a staunch loyalist to Chairman Xi Jinping.)