WASHINGTON (ViaNews) – President Donald J. Trump announced that there will be a sixth branch of U.S. Military: A space force.
This announcement has immediately raised questions for people, but the president has only provided so much information.
According to CBS News, he announced this at the National Space Council Meeting at the White House. He also signed a new Space Policy Directive, which will establish new protocols and procedures to manage and monitor the satellites in low-Earth orbit. This also includes the 10,000+ space debris that poses a high risk to spacecraft.
In addition, there are two other space initiatives being enforced by the National Space Council. One of these initiatives seeks to place more men on the moon and eventually place them on Mars. Another initiative calls for streamlining the federal space bureaucracy to decrease red tape and streamline licensing and oversight of commercial space activity.
Trump essentially seeks for America to dominate space. He said this plan not only regards national identity but national security.
“It’s not enough to merely have an American presence in space; We must have American dominance in space,” said Trump.
Now, it’s well-known that NASA and the American government has always wanted dominance in space. After all, we made sure we were the first to put a man on the moon. But, a space force is a very big plan.
Trump does not yet have congressional support, and the process will require this along with an established plan. Trump did not declare any details or plan for this new establishment.
The U.S. Air Force currently handles all the space capabilities.
According to ABC News, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has a purpose to establish a fighting force, specifically space war-fighting. It also required the Secretary of Air Force to increase the amount and improve the quality of its civilian and military space cadre.
However, the Senate’s bill says nothing about a space force, but according to a source the NDAA gave the Air Force a “pretty significant homework assignment.”
For several months, the Department of Defense has been doing work on an ongoing review that seeks to establish a space force separate from the Air Force. Details on this have not been released to the public.
Several members of Congress have tweeted their opposition to creating a space force, including Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, who said that the generals he has talked to declared they do not support the idea either. He said that now is not the time to rip the Air Force apart.
Secretary Jim Mattis said he was also opposed to the idea in a letter last summer to Representative Mike Turner of Ohio. He said right now they are trying to integrate the department’s war-fighting functions and that this “separate service would likely present a narrower and even parochial approach to space operations.”
However, he seems to have become more open to the idea. In May, he said, “But to look at the problem means we have to look afresh at it, and where are the specific problems, break them down, and if an organizational construct has to change, then I’m wide open to it.”