A Sixth Branch of the Military

Last week, President Trump directed Pentagon officials to start the process of creating a sixth branch of the military, the U.S. Space Force. This could represent the most organizationally disruptive event the Pentagon has seen in 70 years. Although there have been many objections to such a move, the President is going ahead with this concept.

Over the past 20 years there have been several official studies addressing the management and organization of the national security space (NSS) infrastructure within the government. One major conclusion of these studies is that no one is in charge of NSS.

Management is splintered and spread across multiple defense and intelligence organizations. Regarding major initiatives, no single person can make a decision to proceed, but almost anyone can veto an innovation. There is extensive duplication and waste while progress is slow.

No doubt there will be huge organizational, leadership and budgetary impacts in creating and standing up a Space Force. Yes, the military does not like change, but change is what is needed to increase effectiveness and to make progress in a highly competitive and aggressive national security world.

Currently, military space activities are governed by the Air Force where budgets are split between air and space. Just as the Air Force is an outgrowth of the Army Air Corps, decades of technological advances and the changing nature of the adversary now make it necessary to take the next step and establish the U.S. Space Force.

This will be a branch of the military that will finally have is own piece of the DOD budget and a seat at the Joint Chiefs' table. There will also be a Sec. Space Force. All this will insure that space will be defended with the best equipment and operations.

Mr. Trump not only wants a presence in space. He wants U.S. dominance in space. Space Superiority by the U.S. must be maintained, because space has become highly contested and counterspace technologies are advancing quickly. This decision is essential and timely.

Soon, there may be a U.S. Space Academy. People are already speculating on the new Space Force uniforms. Some have suggested they be modelled after those used on the original Star Trek series.

Related Links
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Trump's Space Force plan likely to 'require budget cuts' to Pentagon
Washington (Sputnik) Jun 25, 2018
President Donald Trump's proposal to create a new US Space Force may distract Pentagon planners from opposing his troop withdrawals from South Korea and compel them to enforce real spending cuts in other armed services, analysts told Sputnik on Wednesday. Trump signed an order on Monday creating what would be the sixth branch of the US armed forces, saying space is a warfighting domain and referring to the new unit as the "Space Force." An official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a sim ... read more