[Defense One] Within months, DoD will start standing up a new combatant command, a new space-procurement agency, and a new Space Operations Force.
The U.S. Defense Department this week will take the first steps to create the Space Force, a new branch of the military ordered up by President Trump but not yet fully backed by Congress.
In coming months, Defense Department leaders plan to stand up three of the four components of the new Space Force: a new combatant command for space, a new joint agency to buy satellites for the military, and a new warfighting community that draws space operators from all service branches. These sweeping changes ‐ on par with the past decade’s establishment of cyber forces ‐ are the part the Pentagon can do without lawmakers’ approval.
Creating the fourth component ‐ an entirely new branch of the military with services and support functions such as financial management and facilities construction ‐ will require congressional action. Defense officials plan to spend the rest of 2018 building a "legislative proposal for the authorities necessary to fully establish the Space Force." That would go to Congress early next year as part of the Trump administration’s 2020 budget proposal.
This plan, developed for execution by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian, is laid out in a 14-page draft report slated to go to lawmakers on Wednesday. Defense One reviewed a draft of the report dated July 30.
A bit different take than Saturday's tale of confusion from the AP |
