December 10, 2019—Never Forget Pearl Harbor!

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana

Last Saturday, about 2000 public participants joined about a dozen aging survivors, the youngest of which are in their late 90s, who returned to Pearl Harbor on the 78^th anniversary of what President Franklin Roosevelt told a joint session of congress was a “Day that will live in infamy.” That assault killed over 2300 troops, 1117 of which were Marines and Sailors lost when the USS Arizona sank. An Arizona remnant is now a memorial, and among the survivors this year was a single Arizona survivor, 98-year old Lou Conter.

As the Greatest Generation passes from the scene, we should never forget the lessons of Pearl Harbor, particularly that it was an event that was predicted and could have been avoided, as I have written several times, while warning of disasters I believe we are courting today.

In an April 18, 2019 Newsmax article (included in full below), I also reported the passing of 101 year old Lt. Col. Richard Cole, who was the last of the 80 Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo 78 years earlier on April 18, 1941. He was Jimmie Doolittle’s co-pilot on that historic mission — employing Mitchell B-25 bombers, named after Billy Mitchell who warned of the Pearl Harbor attack, decades earlier — and who many consider to be the “father of the U.S. Army Air Corps that eventually, after World War II, morphed into today’s completely separate U.S. Air Force. That example, which I’ll discuss further below, should carry a significant message to the consideration of President Trump’s U.S. Space Force proposal.

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How Doolittle Raid Altered World War II Outcome

Flight demonstration of historic aircraft. B25 Mitchell. An American twin-engined medium bomber. (Antonio Ros/Dreamstime).

By Henry F. Cooper, Newsmax, Thursday, 18 April 2019 10:15 AM https://www.newsmax.com/henryfcooper/b-25-mitchell-mitchells-usaf/2019/04/18/id/912262/

A little over a week ago, Lt. Col. Richard Cole died at age 103.

He was the last of the 80 Doolittle Raiders that bombed Tokyo on April 18, 1942, four months after Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—a day that “will live in infamy,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it in his December 8, 1941 address to a joint session of congress, which declared war on Japan.

He promised that “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people will in their righteous might win through to absolute victory.”

This announced objective became more problematic three days later when Germany declared war on the United States. So, World War II began in earnest on two fronts. And we were unprepared for war on either front — let alone for both fronts — and things did not go well in the war’s early days. President Roosevelt sought an early way to back up his words.

Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s mission, initially proposed by the Army Air Corps Commanding General Hap Arnold (an acolyte of the legendary Billy Mitchell in advocating airpower) became an unforgettable way to strike back at Japan’s capitol, Tokyo.

With Richard Cole as his co-pilot, Doolittle led 16 B-25 bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier on a “one-way” mission to deliver their bombs on Tokyo and then bail out at sea, over China or crash land. Most made it with the help of Chinese allies, but some were captured and became prisoners of war, and others were executed.

Imperial Japan thought it was not vulnerable to air attack, and Americans had something to cheer about. They had been experiencing a very trying time as Japan and Germany both advanced after we were rudely awakened from our unprepared stupor.

President Roosevelt gave Doolittle the Medal of Honor, and all 80 Raiders received Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Years later, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I served with Jimmy Doolittle on several Air Force Scientific Advisory Board Task Forces that examined the vulnerabilities of our strategic forces and how best to modernize them. He retained that same vigor and creative initiative he demonstrated in leading the highly secret training and almost flawless execution of that potentially suicide mission.

Everything was rationed through World War II, to support the war effort.

We took the means to patch the synthetic rubber inner tubes that often had blowouts if we traveled very far from home. And of course, we had a hand pump to pump-up our tires for further travel.

Those were the days of “Rosie the Riveter,” who manned the factories that produced the tanks, planes, guns, ammunition, explosives, and most all of the required logistics support for their husbands, sons, brothers and even wives, daughters and sisters who supported those who carried the battle to our enemies. They all were “The Greatest Generation.”

Thankfully, because of our island nation status, far from the war zones of Europe and the Pacific, we had time to recover.

An irony is that Doolittle’s B-25s were named “Mitchells,” after Billy Mitchell.

He is revered by many, including yours truly, as the father of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) because of his unbridled air power advocacy — which included many warnings, including a formal 1924 report to General of the Army John Pershing that included a prediction of a Pearl Harbor attack.

His often unwelcome and sometimes rude “strategic warnings” were ignored by the “powers that be of that era, who instead court marshalled then Air Service Brig. Gen. Mitchell and later reduced his rank to Colonel and cut his pay in half. (President Harry S. Truman posthumously awarded him the rank of major general and restored his back pay to his family.)

It took World War II to demonstrate the importance of air power even to the dumbest of the then powers that be and, in 1947, a needed separate U.S. Air Force was established, rather than continuing it under the mantle of the Army.

Today, we don’t have the time for a “World War II-like” demonstration to convince today’s “powers that be” that we need a separate U.S. Space Force, separate from the other services.

We no longer have the benefits of an isolated environment like in 1941, which permitted our unprepared but able industrial might to prepare for and engage in war, and indeed to win in only four-and-a-half years — just as Roosevelt promised — and in all theaters of World War II.

Time and space are now limited by technology that permits mortal attacks in microseconds via stylized cyber and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects.

And we are playing catch-up in preparing to counter threats from space, as stated by Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin — and echoed by a few Air Force leaders.

Meanwhile, some USAF leaders seem to have forgotten trials of their heritage—and instead now insist that President Trump’s Space Force remain under their wings rather than as the separate military service that is warranted.

As a former Air Force officer, I regret that my favorite service has been a major obstacle for years, and arrangements preferred by some Air Force leaders do not yet seem to show an interest in moving from their wayward ways, except to say we must be prepared to strike back if attacked.

Today, we need a separate service focused on the future missions to, in, through and from space. Not just as an adjunct to how things have so far evolved since the late 1950s.

Today, Secretary Heather Wilson is to posthumously honor the Doolittle Raiders for their raid 78 years ago, which changed the dynamics in the early days of World War II. She no doubt will appropriately celebrate naming our B-21 new bomber “The Raider” after the Doolittle Raiders.

She should also remember they flew B-25 Mitchells on that historic raid, named after the Father of the Air Force she now leads. In contemplating future Space Force needs, she and other USAF leaders should not make mistakes like those who opposed Mitchell’s correct view of airpower.

We don’t have time to construct the Space Force after another major war, this time beginning with an all too real possible Pearl Harbor in Space.

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So…where do we stand re. the President’s Space Force proposal? It depends on congress, as I argued in my December 6, 2019 Newsmax article below.

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Improved Military Space Capability Depends On Congress

By Henry F. Cooper, Newsmax, Friday, 06 December 2019 01:25 PM https://www.newsmax.com/henryfcooper/sda-china-defense-satellites/2019/12/06/id/944862/

In an excellent December 2^nd Defense News article, the Pentagon’s Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, Dr. Michael Griffin, recalled the 30th anniversary of the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall, ending the Cold War and highlighting the importance of Ronald Reagan’s vision and initiatives that produced the essential ingredients leading to that memorable event.

And he convincingly noted the unwise euphoric view that led the Western powers to allow continuing and unanswered threats to grow, now requiring us to play “catch-up” on a number of technological fronts where our adversaries advanced while our leading capabilities atrophied.

As he observed, our once transformational technologies are now widely available — some even commercially available. Notably, there have been extensions of electronic warfare to artificial intelligence and machine learning coupled to advances in microelectronics empowered by 5G advances and technologies driven to support commercial as well as defense interests.

We need to meet important growing defense technology challenges without commercial counterparts, such as hypersonic flight.

Perhaps most importantly — at least in my view — Griffin observed that space, “once the uncontested lynchpin of the U.S. warfighting advantage,” is being challenged by Russia and China.

Personally, I am most concerned by China’s growing space capabilities coupled with its economic power, as illustrated by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s report to congress.

As noted in my November 19, 2019 article, a serious response could, and should, prompt a revival of key Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) programs that were abandoned almost 30-years ago. We were years ahead then, but thanks to the dismantlement of the SDI efforts in 1993, we are behind — because China has exploited SDI advances that we have deliberately ignored since 1993.

A story for another day.

Correcting this mistake should be woven into responding to Dr. Griffin’s description of what we must pursue in implementing the current National Defense Strategy, “a revitalized nuclear triad, microelectronics, cybersecurity, biotechnology, 5G, space, hypersonics, artificial intelligence, directed energy, autonomous systems, networked communications, missile defense and quantum science, among others.”

Our goal should be superiority in these technologies, woven into a war-fighting architecture that challenges our adversaries rather than reacting to them, as the key to deterring or winning future conflicts.

And we have no time to waste — since we are indeed playing catchup in a number of these key areas.

As noted above, I am most concerned that we move quickly in the space domain, the military capabilities for which we have ignored for far too long.

And here strong support from Congress is essential. But regrettably, congress seems more interested in chasing “impeachment” causes than in providing for the common defense.

Congress reportedly will be staying in session until the week before Christmas, so there is hope that the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 may get passed with helpful provisions.

By the way, Fiscal Year 2020 began on Oct. 1, 2019, but Congress has been too busy with other matters to worry about funding the federal government.

But, maybe we soon will know the potential future for a couple of key elements of the innovation called for by Under Secretary Griffin.

First, there are the near-term prospects for President Trump’s Space Force Initiative, which will play an important role in meeting the demands to counter the growing threat from China.

Second, and perhaps most important in meeting Griffin’s vision, is the Space Development Agency (SDA) that, with needed congressional support, can become the needed innovative arm to fully exploit the inherent capabilities of rapidly advancing private sector space technologies to meet our national security needs.

Under Secretary Griffin has noted that the SDA is in trouble, especially because continuing resolutions rather than specified funding for new initiatives have become common practice as congress stumbles in its stutter-step funding for the nation’s urgent needs.

As Griffin noted, “When the things we think we need to do are delayed or prevented by budget battles in Congress and continuing resolutions, it slows us down — and in some cases — prevents us from doing things that we earnestly believe we need to do. The Space Development Agency is one of, but by no means the only, casualty of our current situation.”

Griffin says there is bipartisan agreement that the United States needs to reform its space architecture.

But for now, the SDA is waiting for Congress for the guidance and funding needed to pursue the projects on its agenda, including to place 70 satellites in low earth orbit to improve the wartime viability of communications and the means to track threatening missile threats, including hypersonic weapons, to aid our missile defense systems.

Meanwhile, the private sector is exploring the role of large numbers of small satellites for commercial interests, and the military services are interested in exploiting these private sector initiatives. The private sector mindset is fundamentally different than the lethargic Defense acquisition process that threatens to leave us with out-of-date capabilities when new systems are finally operational — thus, exploiting private sector approaches is appealing.

But simply adopting such initiatives requires care, as Under Secretary Griffin has noted. Assuring the viability of critical national security capabilities is more demanding than is meeting the usual requirements for private sector systems.

A possible SDA challenge is to fully exploit the innovative measures of the private sector while meeting those military demands. Such an effort makes sense, provided congress provides the needed funds.

While the competition among several companies already underway can be exploited by the new Space Force in any event, it would be best if there were an effort to “spin-off” benefits from the best of our nation’s technical talent to support our national security without slowing commercial interests.

An appropriately funded SDA could help close that gap.

We once knew how to do such things faster, and we need to learn again. Nowhere is that objective more important than with improving our military space capabilities — especially where we are already playing catchup with China. And the Space Development Agency is urgently needed to spearhead that effort!

Congress, please help

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This past weekend, it was reported that the Authorization Conferees had completed their activities and the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 may be sent to the President for his signature later this week. It does in fact authorize a separate U.S. Space Force as a separate service, but under the U.S. Air Force, just as the Marine Corps is a separate service under the U.S. Navy.

This is certainly a positive movement, but it remains to be seen whether the U.S. Air Force will be a good steward — or whether we will see a repeat of its own history, that required World War II to persuade the powers that be that the U.S. Army Air Corps should become a separate, fully independent U.S. Air Force. I fear that the threats, especially from China, are growing quickly and am concerned that my favorite service, the U.S. Air Force, will not be the independent steward that we need to compete effectively in militarizing space.

There is important positive movement on the public front — perhaps most notably in the Washington Post Magazine this past weekend in a lengthy article, entitled: “Trump’s Excellent Space Force Adventure.” Click here for that interesting comprehensive history of these important developments, which I must say caught me completely by surprise because the Washington Post is not known for being friendly to President Trump’s ideas and initiatives.

While I encourage you to read the comprehensive article, the author’s subtitle is an excellent summary: “You Laugh — but his proposal [the President’s] for a new military branch really could make America safe again.”

I have not yet learned whether and how the NDAA (2020) supports Mike Griffin’s Space Development Agency (SDA) — which is very important for assuring innovative developments in our military space activities.

And we still have no Defense Appropriations Act — only another Continuing Resolution that expires next week on December 20^th. To quote Mike Griffin:

“When the things we think we need to do are delayed or prevented by budget battles in Congress and continuing resolutions, it slows us down — and in some cases — prevents us from doing things that we earnestly believe we need to do. The Space Development Agency is one of, but by no means the only, casualty of our current situation.”

Defense Undersecretary Michael Griffin

Fiscal Year 2020 began on October 1, 2019. So, stay tuned re. congressional support with needed funds for the SDA and the Space Force.

I also want to emphasize Pearl Harbor lesson associated with ignoring warning also should apply to highlight the largely ignored urgent need to address the existential threat posed by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, as included in the military doctrine of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran — and even a possibility for terrorists.

Click here for my first discussion six years ago of Pearl Harbor implications for the EMP “Black Swan” threat — and note, regrettably, that only the details have since changed as the threat has worsened.

The “powers that be” are still not paying attention to the wise council of the congressional EMP Commission, among others. And while President Trump’s March 26, 2019 Executive Order for National Resilience for Electromagnetic Pulses is certainly an important step, the lethargic Federal Government has yet to demonstrate notable improvement.

Bottom Lines.

Those who died at Pearl Harbor should be honored by our leaders by promising “never again” to ignore the warning of such consequential but predictable and predicted threats.

Two such efforts deserving top priority are: 1) To counter consequential technological threats — by supporting Dr. Griffin’s“catch-up” efforts to counter the growing military space threat, especially from China; and 2) Efforts to reverse the thus far lethargic federal government efforts to protect the electric power grid from a variety of threats, particularly including EMP.

These efforts deserve a top national security priority.

What can you do?

Join us in praying for our nation, and for a rebirth of the freedom sought, achieved and passed to us by those who came before us.

Help us to spread our message to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do.

Begin by passing this message to your friends and suggest they visit our webpage www.highfrontier.org, for more information. Also, please encourage your sphere of influence to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter.

Encourage them to review our past email messages, posted on www.highfrontier.org, to learn about many details related to the existential manmade and natural EMP threats and how we can protect America against them. I hope you will help us with our urgently needed efforts, which I will be discussing in future messages.

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