The Air Force’s top leaders said Wednesday they appreciate President Trump’s leadership on space and were “really looking forward” to a dialogue a day after the president broke with the service by supporting a new military space service.
House lawmakers questioned Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, the chief of staff, during a hearing following the president’s surprise announcement in California Tuesday, and asked them to reiterate the reasons for their staunch opposition.
But both leaders avoided the kind of harsh rhetoric they used last year to shoot down the idea in Congress of what lawmakers have dubbed “Space Corps.” They immediately came out against the idea last summer, saying it would add unneeded bureaucracy to the military.
“As the president said yesterday, the new national defense strategy for space recognizes that space is a warfighting domain. We appreciate the president’s and the vice president’s leadership on space,” Wilson told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. “Nowhere is that leadership more clear that in the president’s budget.”
Wilson said the budget request for the coming year includes an 18 percent increase for space operations over last year’s plan, proof of the emphasis on improving defense there.
The Air Force handles about 90 percent of military space operations.
“This budget accelerates our efforts to deter, defend and protect our ability to operate and win in space,” Wilson said.
Even before the Trump question from subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, Wilson led off her testimony by touting Air Force space operations.
“I’ll just say that I’m excited about the dialogue,” Goldfein said in response to the Trump comments.
Goldfein talked about his background as the space coordinating authority under Defense Secretary Jim Mattis when the Pentagon chief was the Marine Corps general in charge of U.S. Central Command and said he is focused on space capabilities as a member of the Joint Chiefs.
“As the president stated openly, this is a warfighting domain,” Goldfein said. “That is where we’ve been focused, so I’m really looking forward to the conversation.”
Mattis took the unusual step of sending a letter to lawmakers in July warning a Space Corps could create a “narrower and even parochial approach” to space operations.
On Tuesday, Trump told a military crowd at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego that he believes the U.S. may need to create the new military branch.
“My new national strategy for space recognizes that space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea. We may even have a space force, develop another one: Space Force. We have the Air Force; we’ll have the Space Force. We have the Army, the Navy,” Trump said. “You know, I was saying it the other day, because we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in space, I said maybe we need a new force, we’ll call it the ‘Space Force.’ And I was not really serious, and then I said, ‘What a great idea maybe, we’ll have to do that, that could happen.’ ”
The support could equal a major political win for Reps. Mike Rogers and Jim Cooper, who head a House Armed Services subcommittee and have been the prime boosters of a new space service. They argue that the Air Force is botching U.S. defense in space and allowing Russia and China threats to grow.
“I am so proud of President Trump’s support of this important and historic initiative to create an independent Space Force. At the end of the day this isn’t about personalities or individuals, it’s about supporting our space warfighters, it’s about making sure those warfighters have the equipment to execute future space operations and it’s about making sure that we continue to outpace our strategic competitors to preserve our national security,” Rogers told the Washington Examiner. “I look forward to working with the Trump administration to make this a reality in the near future.”
Cooper said the president’s remarks “seem encouraging.”
