...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
mentioned in an offhand remark Tuesday that would change the course of US space policy.
But don’t expect Captain Kirk ordering phasers set on stun, Battlestar Galactica or ray guns blazing in orbit in the near future, space experts said. And some said a military space force may make it harder to keep Earth’s orbit a place of peace.
Saying his national security strategy "recognizes that space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea," Trump said at a San Diego Marine Corps base that he’s considering "a space force" that would be the equivalent of the Air Force, Army and Navy.
Trump said at first he wasn’t serious when he floated the concept, but "then I said what a great idea, maybe we’ll have to do that."
This is more about boosting reconnaissance and cybersecurity than fighting in orbit, said Sean O’Keefe, who was both NASA administrator and Navy secretary under President George W. Bush.
Trump’s own defense secretary and Air Force secretary argued vociferously against it when members of Congress pushed it last year, O’Keefe said. You can emphasize more help for the military in space without going to the massive organizational change and expense, he said.
It could be a bureaucratic nightmare, said O’Keefe, a professor at Syracuse University.
He said some people may argue that a space force would "compromise the sanctity of considering space to be off limits from warfare."
| SpaceNews dot com on SpaceForce. Trump's real reason appears to be that money allocated for Space Resources by the President or Congress is always redirected to the USAF pet projects and the space effort is starved. So this is Trump's F-U to the Air Force. It's not new to Trump. Obama, Bush, Clinton and others have played with the concept over time. Trump just got upset and put the option play in play. |