Shanahan ready to sell Congress on Space Force

By Tony Bertuca / March 20, 2019 at 12:24 PM

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said today he is ready to persuade lawmakers who remain skeptical of the Pentagon's Space Force proposal, pointing out there is bipartisan agreement on a variety of space-based initiatives.

Lawmakers with influence over the Pentagon's budget say they support spending more on space capabilities, but have voiced doubts about creating a full-fledged military service.

"The feedback I've received is worry about adding, building bigger government," Shanahan said during a space forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"I don't blame them," he added.

The Pentagon, Shanahan said, believes a Space Force of 15,000 to 20,000 can be established for about $2 billion over the next five years. The service would initially be nested within the Air Force, with the intent to separate it at a later time. The Pentagon has requested $72 million to stand up a Space Force headquarters in fiscal year 2020.

"We can't afford to lose our margin of dominance," Shanahan said, noting that China put 30 rockets into orbit in 2018, while the United States launched 17.

"China and Russia already treat space as a warfighting domain," he continued. "If you're faced with threats like this you say yes to change."

Shanahan has also said he has heard concern from lawmakers who are afraid of falling into an "acquisition trap" in which the department embarks on yet another unsuccessful, decade-long procurement effort.

"We can't do acquisition," he said. "We have to do development."

To that end, the Pentagon has also recommended establishing a Space Development Agency, which Shanahan said will work to leverage commercial capabilities to provide surveillance of the planet.

The Pentagon has also proposed re-establishing U.S. Space Command to focus on defensive and offensive actions in space.

The entire effort will require consolidating all national-level space assets under the Space Force, beginning with Air Force systems and capabilities and then the Army and Navy.

But "space needs an advocate," Shanahan said. "That advocate is the Space Force."

Meanwhile, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) has said he "can't imagine" the Space Force proposal will succeed as it is and expects it to be substantially transformed by the committee.

"It's going to be different than what the White House proposed," he said at a Washington conference last week. "I don't think the White House got it right. What I don't like about the proposal from the White House is it's too expensive. It creates more bureaucracy."

Shanahan is scheduled to testify before the committee next week.

The Senate has yet to weigh in on the Space Force, but Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) has said he is not yet convinced.

"I'm still not real clear on that," he told reporters March 6.

At CSIS, Shanahan said he believes lawmakers have shown a "willingness to be persuaded," especially given threats to the U.S. economy should space assets be hacked.

"We're talking about 15,000 to 20,000 people defending $19 trillion," he said. "We're talking about moving the ball."

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