Greeting West Point cadets at the White House on Tuesday, President Trump again hinted that he might form a “space force” military service branch to complement the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
Trump explained that “We’re getting very big in space, both militarily and for other reasons. And we are seriously thinking of the space force.”
But while it’s true that the nation needs greater investment and improved organization in our space operations, I’m not convinced that a separate space force is necessary. Don’t get me wrong, the current status of U.S. space forces is unacceptable. The Air Force’s space command is currently buried under the authority of the Pentagon’s strategic command and lacks the bureaucratic and funding punch to deliver effectively. In this failure, China and Russia are rapidly catching up with our strategic dominance of space-based warfare, communications, and surveillance.
So what should be done?
Well, I suggest we change the Air Force’s space command into a unified combatant command. That bureaucratic promotion would allow the other military branches to play their role in space operations, while also giving the command greater influence at the policy table. Another advantage would be found in the new command’s encouragement to the other branches to push their best officers into the command in order to get them promotional opportunities. Ultimately, the Pentagon’s upper ranks are just as political as any committee on Capitol Hill.
But how to make the 10th (there are nine already) combatant command work as well as possible?
First, the command needs to be able to attract and retain talent.
For a start, the Air Force needs a kick in the butt to prioritize space operations more seriously. While this pressure is already coming from various members of congress, too many service members continue regard space-related assignments as a career dead end. To fix this, Mattis should make clear that tours with space command will be regarded as high-value experience in determinations over future promotions. We need to see military personnel come to regard space command as they currently see special operations command: as a place where careers are made.
Second, the command needs to be a place of urgent innovation.
This will require a significant budgetary increase to attract top scientists and engineers to join the command and help make it as cutting edge as possible. It will also mean appointing space command leaders who reward risk taking rather than playing it safe. But it will also require a significant boost to space command’s research and development budget, if necessary, with diversion of funds to the unit. To his credit Mattis has increased the military research and development budget already, but Mattis and Congress should also threaten the military branches to invest people and resources seriously or risk losing their pet projects.
If the Navy thinks it might lose one or two aircraft carriers in order to fund space command, or the Air Force a few F-35 squadrons, or the Army a brigade combat team, or the Marines their air wings, those branches will throw their weight behind the new command.
In the end though, change is needed. While the U.S. retains an edge over China and Russia in space, absent the Pentagon’s urgent prioritization of this concern, we will lose our strategic advantage. We cannot afford to wait. If we do, we’ll find that as with stand-off missile engagement and area denial, our enemies will come to hold the advantage in space.
