The House and Senate Armed Services Committees were not notified ahead of time that President Trump would order the Pentagon on Monday to create a Space Force military service, aides in both chambers said.
Members from both sides of the aisle on the panels that oversee the Pentagon and craft military policy immediately pointed out that Trump will need action from Congress to make the new service a reality.
“If President Trump wants to make such a change within the military services, he should come discuss his proposal with us,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
Meanwhile, the Air Force, which handles most space operations, referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not immediately comment on the president’s announcement.
Despite the lack of a notification, Trump’s move was cheered by Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee who have been pushing for a separate space service for more than a year.
“I am thrilled to have President Trump’s continued support for this critical mission to help strengthen our national security. I look forward to working with the president to make this initiative a reality,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, who has spearheaded the initiative.
Rogers and other members of the subcommittee, such as Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., proposed the creation of a space service as part of last year’s annual defense policy bill, but the effort was unsuccessful amid opposition from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the Senate.
Lamborn said “no” when asked if he was concerned that the president did not notify the House Armed Services Committee before making the Space Force announcement during a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House.
“I would agree with those who say Congress needs to help implement this. However, no one can substitute themselves for the commander in chief,” Lamborn said. “If the commander in chief says something has to get done, then you have the secretary of defense, you have the Pentagon, you have the commanders of the combatant commands, you have everyone pulling together at that point.”
Lamborn’s district covers Colorado Springs, where the Air Force Space Command is headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base. The Air Force has three of its five space wings located in the state.
“Colorado already has a heavy presence of military space and I think it is exciting. I think the sense here is we welcome even a greater emphasis on space. We’re ready for it, we’re happy to take on whatever extra responsibility might come our way,” he said.
[Also read: Not just a ‘whim and a prayer’: Expert says what Trump can and can’t do on Space Force]
Not all Republicans on the committee were jubilant about the move. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who is chairman of a different subcommittee, has opposed the Space Force proposal in the past and highlighted the unknowns that remain after Trump’s comments Monday.
“We still don’t know what a Space Force would do, who is going to be in, or how much it is going to cost,” Turner said in a statement.
As part of its 2018 defense bill, the committee required the Pentagon to turn over an independent study on the creation of the new service by the end of the year and an interim version of the study could be completed in August.
“After we get the report that we required as a legislative body and the president signed off on, then this issue can be appropriately evaluated for what’s best for national security,” Turner said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who has also strongly opposed a Space Force, said Monday that top military officials do not want the new service.
Mattis wrote a letter to the committees last year urging them to drop an effort to create the service and said last month that the Pentagon needs to complete studies before it can know whether it is needed.
“The president told a U.S. general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want,” Nelson wrote in a tweet. “Thankfully, the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.”
During his announcement Monday, Trump emphasized that he ordered the creation of the Space Force to maintain American dominance in space.
“Very importantly, I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That’s a big statement,” Trump said.
Trump called on Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to carry out the order. Dunford then replied, “We got it.”
“The Joint Staff will work closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, other DOD stakeholders, and the Congress to implement the president’s guidance,” an official on the Joint Staff said Monday.
