Pentagon cancels roundtable to discuss Space Force report

The Pentagon has canceled a media briefing to discuss its much-anticipated Space Force report, telling reporters today that officials are in the final stages of coordinating the document.

The roundtable was slated for Aug. 1, the date the report is due to Congress, but Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said in an email the briefing will be postponed.

"We are in the final stages of the report to Congress on the recommended organization and management structure of space components for the Department of Defense," Davis said. "We will release the report when coordination is complete, which we anticipate will be soon."

The report, directed by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, is meant to outline ongoing efforts to reform national security space management and recommend a new organizational construct.

The Pentagon has opposed calls for a more independent military space organization, and sources told Inside Defense the original report was expected to reflect ambivalence toward a major restructure. But after President Trump in June directed DOD to stand up a new Space Force, that posture changed.

Former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said during a Brookings Institution event Monday the report, which was nearly complete prior to Trump's announcement, had to be rewritten.

Drafts of the report have continued to circulate. Defense One reported today that a July 30 draft laid out a time line to complete a legislative proposal for a new Space Force by the end of 2018. According to Defense One, the draft report also called for a Space Defense Agency, which appears to be a new name for an ongoing effort to revamp the Space and Missile Systems Center, the Air Force's space acquisition hub.

Davis would not confirm the details of the Defense One story and emphasized that the document referenced was a draft version.