Air Force leaders came under withering attack from the chairman of a House subcommittee Thursday for their public opposition to the creation of a Space Corps as a separate military service.
“I’m outraged,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., as he opened a hearing to mark up proposals from the House Armed Services Committee for the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
“We may need to take this mission totally away from the Air Force,” Rogers said in an extended rant at a meeting of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee.
On Wednesday, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson dismissed the proposal as creating unneeded bureaucracy, during a visit to the Senate.
“The Pentagon is complicated enough. We’re trying to simplify. This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart and cost more money,” she said. “If I had more money, I would put it into lethality, not bureaucracy.”
The comments infuriated Rogers, who said the bipartisan proposal was the result of nine months of consultations with space experts and leaders.
“I’ve been shocked by the response from the Air Force leadership. Did they miss where the Chinese and the Russians have already reorganized space operations?” Rogers said. “If she can’t implement this proposal without creating six new deputy chiefs of staff, that’s on her. Maybe we need a Space Corps secretary instead of an Air Force secretary leading space.”
Rogers said the Pentagon always resists change, and while implementing the proposal for a separate Space Corps as well as a new Space Command under U.S. Strategic Command will be “disruptive in the short term,” he said they are necessary for the U.S. to keep up with its adversaries.
“The department cannot fix itself on this issues. Congress has to step in,” Rogers said.
