{"id":56212,"date":"2017-11-21T14:46:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T14:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/21\/space-for-a-space-corps-congress-lays-groundwork-for-controversial-plan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:10:32","slug":"space-for-a-space-corps-congress-lays-groundwork-for-controversial-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2017\/11\/21\/space-for-a-space-corps-congress-lays-groundwork-for-controversial-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Space for a Space Corps? Congress lays groundwork for controversial plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Congress is not creating a new military service devoted to space, but analysts and lawmakers say they have laid the groundwork for the ambitious, and controversial plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/11\/16\/congress-sends-trump-700-billion-military-spending-bill\/\" title=\"\" class=\"selected-link\" data-original-title=\"\" aria-describedby=\"popover645190\">2018 National Defense Authorization Act<\/a> that passed the Senate Nov. 16, not only left out House-passed language to build a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2017\/11\/14\/us-house-sends-senate-defense-policy-bill-without-space-corps\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" data-original-title=\"\">Space Corps<\/a> within the Air Force, but expressly banned its creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than maintain the status quo, however, lawmakers who favored a Space Corps over the go-slow approach favored by the White House and Pentagon officials won a victory in the bill\u2019s aggressive overhaul of the Air Force\u2019s organization for space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSome of the initial headlines said they killed Space Corps, but I think it\u2019s more accurate to say they deferred it,\u201d said Todd Harrison, a top defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and director of its Aerospace Security Project. His analysis is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/analysis\/congress-creating-military-space-corps\" title=\"\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd of course, they slapped the Air Force over this. All these things the Air Force had been doing, that the Air Force had responsibility for, they took away,\u201d Harrison added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bill axes A11, the service\u2019s new three-star billet for deputy chief of staff for space operations. Instead, it gives more responsibility and authority to Air Force Space Command for space acquisitions, resource management, requirements, war fighting, and personnel development\u2014viewed as a start for the potential creation of a Space Corps in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crucially, the bill requires the deputy defense secretary to have an independent organization\u2014and not the Air Force\u2014develop a road map to \u201cestablish a separate military department\u201d for space, rather than a military service within the Department of the Air Force, and that it would encompass \u201cnational security space\u201d rather than just Air Force space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To Harrison, the language and tone of the summary accompanying the bill suggests a lack of confidence in the Air Force leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides killing A11 \u2014 which the NDAA summary rips as \u201ca hastily-developed half-measure instituted by the Air Force, which at best only added a box on the organizational chart\u201d \u2014 and boosting Air Force Space Command, the bill kills the Defense Space Council and principal DoD space adviser (both headed by the secretary of the Air Force). It also turns the Operationally Responsive Space Office into the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, reporting directly to Air Force Space Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The key proponents of a Space Corps, House Strategic Forces Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Ranking Member Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., trumpeted the bill in a <a href=\"https:\/\/mikerogers.house.gov\/press-release\/chairman-rogers-and-ranking-member-cooper-joint-statement-fundamental-space-reform\" title=\"\">joint statement<\/a> Nov. 8 for taking \u201cthe first step in fundamentally changing and improving the national security space programs of the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea is that America\u2019s military has become evermore dependent on satellites for communication, intelligence and navigation, and that it must have a dedicated branch to best counter foes like Russia and China, already working to exploit that vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rogers had argued the Air Force resisted the move in part because its space accounts are a \u201cmoney pot,\u201d which service leaders have raided for years to pay for air-domain needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter months of thorough oversight, it became clear that the Department of Defense, and the Air Force in particular, did not prioritize space capabilities even as threats increase, and were not structured in a way to ensure that we are able to deter, defend and if necessary fight and win in space,\u201d Rogers and Cooper said in their joint statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House and its new team, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, all dug in and pushed back as the NDAA wound its way through Congress. They argued a Space Corps would only add more bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rogers initially outmaneuvered them, winning the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/10\/06\/thornberry-theres-no-time-to-wait-for-space-corps\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\">public support of House Armed Services Committee Chair Mac Thornberry, R-Texas<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2017\/07\/13\/trump-mattis-lose-as-space-corps-proposal-survives-in-defense-policy-bill\/\" title=\"\" class=\"selected-link\" data-original-title=\"\" aria-describedby=\"popover999272\">torpedoing an Space Corps-killing amendment in the House Rules Committee<\/a>, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2017\/07\/22\/senators-sending-lofty-space-corps-hopes-down-to-earth\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\">could not win over key senators like his counterpart, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ultimately, the bill does indicate Congress is displeased with the Air Force. Harrison credited an \u201cunforced error\u201d by the Air Force for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pushback was too strong, and it seemed like the Air Force was not getting the message from Congress, that it wanted the Air Force to do something different,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cSecretary Wilson had the perfect opportunity to say, \u2018I\u2019m new, I\u2019m going to be the referee here [between Rogers and the Air Force].\u2019 But she didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not clear whether the Air Force and the armed services committees are precisely on the same page, even now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada this month, the chief of U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, framed the bill not as a rebuke, but hailed the NDAA\u2019s changes as bulldozing bureaucracy. He said its assessment of the problem is \u201cexactly right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy biggest fear is actually not about the Russians or the Chinese,\u201d Hyten said. \u201cMy biggest fear is that our country seems to have lost the ability to go fast, and our adversaries are going fast, and if we don\u2019t fix that, we won\u2019t stay ahead of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hyten was dismissive of the idea of Space Corps, however, referencing an aircraft from science fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t think we need a Space Corps,\u201d Hyten said. \u201cI had a boss one time that told me that you don\u2019t need a space corps until you\u2019ve got X-Wing fighters. That\u2019s about the timing I think you would need when you get the need for a Space Corps. It just adds more bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To Hyten, the NDAA\u2019s approach will not necessarily lead to a new Space Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe whole goal was to eliminate some of the bureaucracy that was keeping us from going fast and say, all right, Air Force, you have a big role with Air Force Space Command, you\u2019re in charge,\u201d Hyten said. \u201cNow we need to figure out the Pentagon side of the house, and basically clean the floor of everything that was in the Pentagon and say, \u2018Now figure out a way to go fast.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Valerie Insinna in Halifax, Canada, contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Congress is not creating a new military service devoted to space. But lawmakers who favored a Space Corps won a victory in the National Defense Authorization Act&#8217;s aggressive overhaul of the Air Force\u2019s organization for space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"9":{"categories":["satellites","c2-comms"],"primary_category":"satellites"}}},"categories":[7,8,36,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3446],"class_list":["post-56212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-congress","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"V36XNZTA2VFLLFYRVCMQA3DO7A","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2017\/11\/21\/space-for-a-space-corps-congress-lays-groundwork-for-controversial-plan\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Space for a Space Corps? 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