House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) Credit: DoD
Space News: HASC Chairman rejects Trump’s Space Force proposal, says committee will seek ‘other options’
Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the details of DoD's Space Force proposal "highly problematic."
WASHINGTON — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said he strongly opposes the Trump’s administration’s proposal to establish a Space Force as a sixth branch of the armed forces. Smith issued a statement on Monday rejecting the Pentagon’s proposal, less than a day before Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is scheduled to testify in front of the committee.
“The details of the Space Force proposal sent to Congress by the President are highly problematic,” Smith said in the statement.
Smith’s repudiation of the Space Force legislative proposal — a process led by Shanahan from the get-go — casts serious doubts on the new branch being authorized by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
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Update #1: HASC Chair Smith To White House: Forget Your Space Force (Breaking Defense)
Update #2: Key U.S. lawmaker objects to Trump 'Space Force' plan (Reuters)
WNU Editor: The U.S. Air Force was established in 1947 because it was believed at the time that a separate branch of the armed forces was needed to pursue these core missions .... air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.(Wikipedia). Should the Air Force's mission of space superiority and other space related missions now be assigned to a separate branch of the armed forces? The consensus from what I have read is that the answer is yes. So why is House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith against such a proposal? He cites structural and bureaucratic reasons, but is short on outlining his solutions. Bottom line. If his support is not there, this new branch of the armed forces is not going to happen.
