All the “I can’t evens…”
You can break out those Buck Rogers secret decoder rings, if you have them, because President Trump has declared that the first ever United States Space Rangers is about to be a thing.
Going boldly where no man has gone before, 45 announced that he has directed the Pentagon to create a sixth branch of the U.S. military – a Space Force.
“I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That’s a big statement,” Trump said a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House. “We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal.”
I do love how he felt it necessary to point out to the plebeians that he’d just made a big statement.
You don’t want to miss it.
The announcement comes as the Pentagon is still working to finish up studies on military operations in space including an independent review ordered by Congress on how it would create a new service focused on protecting the U.S. against growing space threats from countries such as China and Russia. The review is not slated to be turned over to lawmakers until December.
Threats from countries such as China and Russia? The same China and Russia he courts with such amorous fervor?
Am I the only one getting the whole “Star Wars” vibe about this?…
Note…
Defense Sec Mattis is NOT excited at all about this…
Current American military space operation’s are spread among the various services…
Congress will have the final say…
The announcement caught some in the Pentagon by surprise. “We understand the President’s guidance. Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy. Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders,” Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said in a statement….
image…US Air Force
Hasn’t there been a long-standing treaty going back to the 1950’s or early 1960’s about the demilitarization of space ? (The kind of treaty that John Bolton hates.)
Of course, over time it’s become clear that some military-oriented activity, such as surveillance and anti-missile defence, does and must take place beyond Earth’s limits, but my impression was that the superpowers/space powers agreed that moving the Cold War (other than propaganda) into space was a lose-lose proposition.
I think it has morphed to prohibiting ‘offense’ weapons….
Everybody has GPS and Spy camers’s
I believe I read somewhere that one of communist coubtries has be testing a ‘killer’ satellite ….
But no weapons so far ….
Remember Trump has been tearing up agreements/ policies that Have been on the books for decades…
And without a trained specialist space force already in place, who will protect America against Martian Muslim alien invasions ?
No sirree, no Pearl Harbor or 9/11 surprise attack is going to happen on the watch of Ever-Ready Donald “only I can save you” Trump.
I guess the current day armed services will have to up to the task of keeping space safe and not letting a off the wall CIC do something stupid and start a war….
Or give the place to the Russian’s on a silver platter ?
Bless Mattis
May he stay healthy