President Trump's announcement last week that he would direct the Pentagon to create a new military service -- dubbed a Space Force -- injected new energy into an ongoing debate about who should manage the military space mission.
Speaking during a June 18 National Space Council meeting, Trump said he has ordered the department to "immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces."
"We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force,” he added.
The announcement appears to have come as a surprise to Air Force and Pentagon officials as well as lawmakers, including House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), who has led the congressional push to reorganize the military space mission. It has generated plenty of speculation as to why the president is pushing for this change and what his vision is for a new military service.
Todd Harrison, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it's unclear why the president has decided to give the issue a platform.
"What's really baffling, confusing about this is it's not clear where the president is coming from on this and why he's decided to make this an issue and how his policy position on this connects to policy positions that have been taken by other parts of his administration," Harrison told reporters June 18. "That has not been worked out. That's not clear."
However, Rogers, who spoke with Inside Defense June 20, said he has had conversations with Trump about the changing space threat environment and the need for a dedicated, organized professional cadre whose sole mission is to protect national security interests in space. Rogers said it is clear to him the president's interest in a Space Force is informed by his understanding of the growing threats from Russia and China.
"Some knuckleheads out there in the media and on the internet have been talking about how President Trump just pulled this out of thin air and how insane it is," Rogers said. "President Trump is doing this because he knows what Russia and China are doing and what has to be done and how we cannot allow it to go on anymore. . . . He knows there's a sense of urgency and he's acting on it."
Rogers and his subcommittee led a bipartisan effort last year to create a Space Corps -- a separate service that would be housed within the Air Force, similar to the Marine Corps' relationship to the Navy. The proposal passed the House's version of FY-18 spending legislation, but the Senate was hesitant to embrace it and the final version of the bill instead required further study of the issue.
The president's call for a separate service outside of the Air Force's purview takes the FY-18 proposal a step further -- a move Rogers called "much bolder" than his near-term vision.
Trump's announcement also came as a surprise because it seemed to directly contradict some in his administration, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who have opposed Congress' proposal to create a Space Corps.
However, as Inside Defense previously reported, there have been indications over the last year that the Office of Management Budget supports the Space Force proposal.
In OMB's statement of administration policy on the Space Corps proposal included in the House's mark of FY-18 defense spending legislation, the White House said it appreciated lawmakers' work to identify gaps in current organization and management structures, but called the proposal “premature.” However, in a December 2017 report to Congress, OMB indicated it supported the concept, stating it is “not only prudent but also necessary to consider significant organizational options, like a Space Force.”
"There are many key differences between the air and space domains that raise doubts that the organization models should be the same," the report states. "A clean organizational slate would allow a DOD space culture to germinate in a way best fitting these unique features and likely speed the integration of non-Air Force space forces."
Following Trump's comments last week, lawmakers were quick to point out that the president does not have the final say in standing up a new military branch. That responsibility lies in the hands of Congress, which is awaiting two Pentagon studies directed in the FY-18 National Defense Authorization Act that will likely lay the foundation for any future policy changes.
One, due Aug. 1, is a department-led review of the current space organizational structure and an examination of the merits of a Space Corps. The second report is being led by the Center for Naval Analyses and will craft a roadmap toward standing up a Space Corps. The FY-18 NDAA requires an interim update on the roadmap this summer and final delivery in December.
Rogers said he expects the scope of both studies to expand given the new call to create a Space Force. Once the CNA roadmap is complete, Rogers said, lawmakers will use that work to craft language for the FY-20 NDAA.
Doug Loverro, former under secretary of defense for space policy, told Inside Defense he thinks the president's endorsement will solidify congressional support for a Space Force and will quash pushback from the Pentagon.
He said the Air Force, which has been the most vocal in its Space Force opposition, may try to slow down the process, but he doesn't think obstruction efforts will get very far.
"There are a lot of folks at the [Office of the Secretary of Defense] and OMB who would say, 'Nope. We're not having any of that. We're going to have the Space Force and the only thing you get to decide about is how many years you take to get there,'" Loverro said.
The Defense Department has not offered much detail on its next steps in complying with the president's order. Pentagon chief spokeswoman Dana White said June 18 the department would begin working with the service and Congress to implement the plan.
"We understand the president's guidance," she said in a statement. "Our policy board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy. Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders."
In a letter to airmen last week, Air Force leadership said the service does not expect any immediate changes in light of the president's direction.
"We look forward to working with Department of Defense leaders, Congress, and our national security partners to move forward on this planning effort," the June 19 message states. "Our focus must remain on the mission as we continue to accelerate the space warfighting capabilities required to support the National Defense Strategy."