Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond says it is even hard to explain to his mother how vital deterring threats in outer space is to Americans’ daily lives. So, when White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki appeared to mock the service created by President Donald Trump, he jumped at her invitation to join her at the White House lectern.
“My own mother called me a couple months ago after watching a television segment about GPS,” Raymond told reporters Wednesday. “She said, ‘Hey, Jay, do you know that … the Air Force and the Space Force does things with GPS?
He continued: “I’m like, ‘Mom, you know, that’s kind of what I do.’”
Psaki did not make Raymond’s job any easier Tuesday when reporters asked if President Biden would keep the Space Force, which was created by Trump and since codified by Congress.
“Wow, Space Force, it’s the plane of today!” Psaki said with a smirk, referencing a day one question about Trump’s proposal to change the color scheme of Air Force One. Psaki then said she would check with the White House’s Space Force point of contact.
“I’m not sure who that is,” she added.
Here’s Jen Psaki laughing at the question from Bloomberg’s @Josh_Wingrove about whether Biden will keep the U.S. @SpaceForceDoD or dismantle it, adding she didn’t even know who the WH contact was pic.twitter.com/twavKEq9ME
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 2, 2021
Psaki tweeted on Tuesday evening what amounted to an apology of sorts and an invitation to Space Force officials to brief at the White House, something not even the Trump administration did.
“We look forward to the continuing work of Space Force and invite the members of the team to come visit us in the briefing room anytime to share an update on their important work,” Psaki wrote, prompting the top space warrior to respond.
“I see the value of this force each and every day,” Raymond said. “And I’m happy to talk to anybody about the great work that they’re doing, and I would welcome the opportunity.”
Psaki declined to apologize Wednesday afternoon when asked about her comments the day before, again inviting the Space Force to brief at the White House, and she affirmed that Biden supports the new service.
“They absolutely have the full support of the Biden administration,” she said. “We are not revisiting the decision to establish the Space Force. The desire for the Department of Defense to focus greater attention and resources on the growing security challenges in space has long been a bipartisan issue.”
She added that “thousands of men and women proudly serve in the Space Force,” and any attempt to dismantle the new service “would have to be taken by Congress.”
Raymond downplayed the Tuesday comments, instead emphasizing the vital role of protecting American’s space infrastructure from threats posed by anti-satellite weapons.
“It is important that we have elevated space,” he said of the Trump decision to create the new armed service, which was followed by a congressional mandate to make the chief of space operations part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“This isn’t space for space sake,” he said. “Space is critical to our nation. It underpins all of our instruments of national power.”
“I’m very proud of the Guardians and the Space Force,” he said, referring to service members of the new force, which number just 2,400 a year into the service’s Dec. 20, 2019 creation.
Space Force counts on a total of about 16,000 administratively assigned civilian and military personnel.
Space Force a ‘dumb idea’
Snide jokes about the idea of a new service of space war fighters are nothing new.
When the new force was first announced in 2018, Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, a member of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, called it a “dumb idea.”
“Although ‘Space Force’ won’t happen, it’s dangerous to have a leader who cannot be talked out of crazy ideas,” Schatz said on Twitter.
The VP just announced a new military branch – a “Space Force,” because no R is willing to tell POTUS it’s a dumb idea. Although “Space Force” won’t happen, it’s dangerous to have a leader who cannot be talked out of crazy ideas. Elect D’s to check POTUS power.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 9, 2018
Heritage Foundation defense policy analyst and 25-year Air Force veteran John Venable told the Washington Examiner Wednesday that acting flippant about serious threats is harmful to U.S. national security.
“There are capabilities that the Russians and the Chinese have that are in space that are weaponized,” Venable said, referring to terrestrial-based rockets, directed-energy lasers, and space-based robotic arms and projectiles that can destroy American communications and GPS satellites.
The kinetic threats posed by adversaries are coupled with nonkinetic activities like reverse jamming that could disable American satellites.
“They can take our satellites out of commission, and what that would do to us, people do not understand,” he explained. “The turmoil that’s created from a flippant comment ripples way downhill very, very quickly. And so, people begin to question Gen. Raymond.”
He added: “Now people are going, ‘Are you really important? Are you really valuable? It sounds like the administration doesn’t value you.’ And that is the wrong signal to send.”
Raymond, who previously told the Washington Examiner that the Netflix comedy series of the same name did not hinder his work, admitted that messaging is nonetheless a challenge.
“Space doesn’t have a mother,” he said. “You can’t reach out and hug a satellite. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. It’s hard to have that connection. It’s, 22,300 nautical miles above your head. It’s invisible largely. But there is a very, very, very strong connection between those capabilities and our way of life.”
