President Donald Trump says he supports the idea of creating a Space Force as a co-equal branch of the military in order to project U.S. dominance beyond the reaches of Earth's gravity.
"When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space," Trump said at a Monday meeting of his National Space Council. "I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces."
The idea of a Space Force admittedly sounds pretty badass. However, it is also likely unnecessary, unwise, and runs counter to the recommendation of Trump's own Defense chief.
When a bipartisan group of lawmakers tried to include language creating a new "Space Corps" in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis strongly opposed the idea, writing in a letter, "I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting functions."
This "Space Corps" was a notably less ambitious proposal than what Trump seems to be describing. It called for the new Corps to have its own seat on the Military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, but still report to the Department of the Air Force, similar to the Marine Corps' relationship with the Navy.
In contrast, Trump said today that his Space Force would be a co-equal branch, saying, "we are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal."
Whatever form it takes, the creation of a new branch of the military will only invite more waste in a Department of Defense bureaucracy that continues to siphon off billions of taxpayer dollars while rarely being held accountable for how it spends its massive budget.
As recently as February 2018, an audit of the Defense Logistics Agency obtained by Politico found that the agency—which functions as the military's supply arm—failed to account for as much as $800 million. In December 2016, it was revealed that the Defense Department buried an internal study finding $125 billion in administrative waste. (Then there's the money frittered away by the Defense Department on smaller scale boondoggles, like the $43 million compressed natural gas station we built in Afghanistan.)
Mattis argued that the Pentagon's priority should be focusing on getting its own shop in order before it goes about creating whole new branches.
Indeed, the idea of militarizing space with a brand-new Space Force departs from some positive noises the Trump administration has made about letting the private sector take the lead in space development.
In February, the Administration floated the idea of converting the International Space Station into a semi-private facility and zeroing out NASA funding for the station by 2025. The space agency has already saved big bucks partnering with private companies to resupply the station. Other private enterprises are getting ever closer to launching manned space flights.
The Trump Administration would do well to let these peaceful, private initiatives develop, as opposed to crowding them out by launching the government's most bloated bureaucracy into space.
Poster Comment:
Will he spend a trillion dollars to build a Death Star instead of using the money to fix America's infrastructure like he promised to do?
MSGA!! (Making Space Great Again)
Or maybe he knows something that we don't about hostile ETs.
#1: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#0)
GrandIsland posted on 2018-06-19 07:07:07 Reply Private Reply
#2: Deckard To: GrandIsland (#1)
Calling Trump a liar are ya?
Deckard posted on 2018-06-19 07:15:05 Reply Private Reply
#3: Jameson To: Deckard (#0)
Several thoughts.....
1. Interesting choice of words.......
2. This is a pretty big distraction....but from what???
3. The orange russian is bat-shit crazy.
Jameson posted on 2018-06-19 07:27:48 Reply Private Reply
#4: GrandIsland To: Jameson (#3)
Good description of what happens when Trump triggers the snowflake populace.
lol
GrandIsland posted on 2018-06-19 07:39:13 Reply Private Reply
#5: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#3)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-06-19 08:17:10 Reply Private Reply
#6: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#3)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-06-19 08:18:37 Reply Private Reply
#7: Deckard To: A K A Stone, Jameson (#5)
Ya gotta love those eloquent right-wingers who claim that they are so much more tolerant of opposing viewpoints than them dirty liberals are.
You know that they've hit rock-bottom when they start insulting your mother.
Deckard posted on 2018-06-19 08:43:32 Reply Private Reply
#8: Deckard To: Jameson (#3)
Don't worry - Trump knows what he's doing.
This is obviously some more of his 3D chess mastery in action.
Just shut up and be a good American.
Deckard posted on 2018-06-19 08:46:56 Reply Private Reply
#9: Hondo68 To: Deckard, Voodoo Economics, DACA Amnesty Don, Now Hiring space cadets (#0)
It's an economic stimulus & jobs program, as he said in his speech. It's no coincidence that Amnesty Don talked about his DACA amnesty first, before moving on to taxpayer funded jobs for his amigos as space cadets.
It's economic voodoo to broaden the base of the non-Federal Reserve pyramid, Ponzi Scheme. Spend more, hire more, borrow more, and try to prop up the failing system with tariff taxes and fear mongering until after the elections. And keep pushing the bull that Trump is fighting the system, not feeding it.
Hondo68 posted on 2018-06-19 08:49:22 Reply Private Reply
#10: Jameson To: Deckard (#7)
LOL!
Not even a worthy insult, neither funny OR clever
I'm guessing fairly major hang-over this morning...
Jameson posted on 2018-06-19 08:49:43 Reply Private Reply
#11: Jameson To: Deckard (#8)
I thought the next big news would break Friday afternoon....
Now I think it might be as soon as....today?
Jameson posted on 2018-06-19 08:52:56 Reply Private Reply
#12: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Currently there is no military agency to argue for spaced-based solutions to enemy threats. Existing military branches propose solutions that use their expertise, even though they may not be the best solutions.
A space "force" responsible for communications, GPS, spy satellites, and the means to protect those space-based assets, add another dimension to our national defense.
misterwhite posted on 2018-06-19 08:56:19 Reply Private Reply
#13: Deckard To: misterwhite (#12)
Deckard posted on 2018-06-19 08:59:38 Reply Private Reply
#14: misterwhite To: Deckard (#13)
misterwhite posted on 2018-06-19 09:25:19 Reply Private Reply
#15: paraclete To: Deckard (#0)
Trump is converting the Air Force Space Command into its own force so he can get funding for it. This will require infrastructure so here comes Trump's infrastructure plan. He wants to go to the moon and build military bases there, forget about those silly treaties if you have real estate you have to be able to hold it and some Star Ship Troopers are needed. It won't be long before they are pulvarising stray asteroids for target practice. The Moon will become our death star.
You won't do deep exploration until you can lift off in near zero gravity and save that prescious fuel
paraclete posted on 2018-06-19 09:38:23 Reply Private Reply
#16: sneakypete To: Deckard (#0)
Or are you actually so retarded you think the USAF is geared up and has the mindset to operate a force dedicated solely to operations outside our atmosphere?
You don't think think we need a organization dedicated SOLELY to space?
And don't even start with the NASA bullshit. They are waaaay too politicized by congress,and are nothing more now than a Jobs Corps branch for minorities.
sneakypete posted on 2018-06-19 10:02:36 Reply Private Reply
#17: nolu chan To: Deckard (#0)
nolu chan posted on 2018-06-19 11:55:19 Reply Private Reply
#18: Justified To: Deckard (#0)
Gee spend money on space or illegal aliens?
Justified posted on 2018-06-19 12:07:58 Reply Private Reply
#19: Hondo68 To: Deckard, The MAGA promise (#13)
Buh bye!
Hondo68 posted on 2018-06-19 13:07:25 Reply Private Reply
#20: Deckard To: nolu chan (#17)
In other words, Trump cultists.
Deckard posted on 2018-06-19 13:12:32 Reply Private Reply
#21: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#20)
You must hang out with the faggot Jameson and his mommy.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-06-20 08:36:30 Reply Private Reply