Space. The final frontier. These are the Space Force voyages of President Donald Trump, who today signed a new policy directive laying out his administration’s long-awaited plans to establish a new space force branch under the Air Force.
“With today’s action we will ensure that our people are secure, our interests are protected and our power continues to be unmatched,” Trump said in remarks during the signing ceremony.
“The Space Force is a very important part of my administration,” Trump added.
However, the scope of the Space Force has been downsized.
The new policy directive will make the Space Force a sixth branch within the US Air Force, rather than its own independent department.
Administration officials declined to say the specific cost for the new service — only that it would be in the “low, single-digit billions.”
Trump first directed the Department of Defense to establish the Space Force in June 2018 in a surprise announcement during a meeting of the National Space Council.
At the time, he argued that the organization would be a new, sixth branch of the military.
Since then, DOD officials have been debating exactly how to structure this new branch and what it would cost.
However, creating a new military branch ultimately requires legislation from Congress, and many lawmakers have expressed their opposition to setting up an independent Space Force.
Now after months of debate within the Pentagon, the Trump administration is proposing to initially create the Space Force within the Air Force instead, similar to how the Marine Corps is operated out of the US Navy.
However, the administration hopes that this will be the “first step” toward creating a separate Space Force branch at some point, the draft says.
Even with this change, Congress will still need to agree to the idea and provide funding for the restructuring.
But the administration may have an easier time getting congressional approval for the Space Force if it’s created within the Air Force, which is already responsible for overseeing many of the military’s most crucial satellite missions.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency recently released a report saying that Russia and China were boosting their space capabilities and developing weapons systems capable of striking US satellites.
Leading lawmakers like House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) have expressed concern about creating an expensive new bureaucracy without making military space operations more effective.
“We’ve heard them very clearly about what their concerns are,” said the official, describing recent informal conversations with congressional leaders about the proposed structure. “They’re pleased we’re taking it seriously and that we’re flexible on this.”