January 28, 2020—Packaging the US Space Force!

“Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Sir Walter Scott in his play told in 16^th century verse, Marmion, published in 1808

The meaning of this famous quotation and Marmion, the play itself, composed a lesson that I first studied in High School and have sought to remember as sound guidance ever since.

It is that destructive effects result from misrepresenting the truth from its very initial telling. Moreover, those effects can be and often are amplified — possibly in unanticipated ways when key participants continue to misrepresent the truth, especially when others inquire about the facts.

A second great guiding statement is the famous quotation on the wall of the entrance to the CIA that so clearly states:

“And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 KJV

While contemplating the above new U.S. Space Force Logo, I find myself reflecting on these guiding principles when considering various descriptions of its missions, now to be performed from its assigned post within the U.S. Air Force.

Click here for Air Force Magazine perceptions of the new logo—and read the “comments” that note its USAF heritage dates back to the first formation of U.S. Space Command in 1982—disbanded in 1991 and belatedly re-established last year. And click here for a Washington Post discussion of explicit less complimentary perceptions, including from some Star Trek fans who see unwelcome similarities between the Space Force Logo and that of the Starfleet Command insignia.

Some reportedly have claimed that the Space Force is “Boldly going where we’ve gone before…” I fear an observation unintentionally too near the truth to be humorous.

Click here for last week’s message that gives voice to some of my concerns, which I share with others including Retired USAF LGEN Steven Kwast. In my opinion, he retired early because those views were not — and are not — shared by senior Air Force leaders who oppose more visionary future Space Force roles than simply supporting traditional Air Force missions.

These acceptable missions appear to limit the Space Force to extending and protecting current missions long performed by Air Force space systems — sensor and communications support to our ground-, sea- and air-based based military forces, but not developing and deploying in space the operational means to employ force in, through and from space. Public accounts suggest the new Space Force is to defend our space systems, and little more.

I presented an abbreviated summary of my concerns in a January 21, 2020 Newsmax article, included in full below. In short, the current Space Force, imbedded in the Air Force, is a far cry from the separate Space Force originally proposed by President Trump in 2018. As with all bureaucracies, congress and the administration has found ways to delay at least, if not to block, finding a pathway to President Trump’s proposal for a separate Space Force.

Kicking Can Down the Road on Space Force Endangers US

By Henry F. Cooper, Newsmax, Tuesday, January 21, 2020 https://www.newsmax.com/henryfcooper/pearl-harbor-pence-usaf-sdi/2020/01/21/id/950706/

President Donald Trump announced establishment Of The U.S. Space Command in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 29, 2019. U.S. Air Force — and now Space Force — Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are pictured in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

On Jan. 13, 2020, Vice President Mike Pence swore in USAF General John (Jay) W. Raymond as the first commander of the U.S. Space Force, consistent with the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 that President Donald J. Trump signed into law this past Dec 20.

Following emerging realities from the founding of this the first new service since the U.S. Air Force was formed in 1947 will be profoundly important.

The Space Force results from several years of advocacy by members of Congress, and particularly from President Trump’s 2018 call for a separate Space Force — along with resistance within the Pentagon.

Bureaucratic infighting will no doubt continue as Gen. Raymond oversees the new Service formed within the United States Air Force — rather than the completely separate service that President Trump originally proposed.

This arrangement is often described as being like the Marine Corps, founded on Nov. 10, 1775 to conduct ship-to-ship fighting, provide shipboard security and discipline and assist in landing forces. Its mission has evolved over the years of course, and the Marines have reported to the Secretary of Defense though the Secretary of the Navy ever since we have had service secretaries.

Does that history suggest a planned sense of permanence for the current Space Force/Air Force arrangement?

Since I think that potential eventuality would be a disastrous mistake, I prefer to compare the situation with the Army Air Corps, which in turn grew out of the Army Signal Corps, and during World War I continued primarily as an adjunct to our ground fighting forces.

Early advocates for a completely separate service were dedicated to developing “air power” because they believed it was destined to change fundamentally the nature of warfare. Perhaps most notable was Gen. Billy Mitchell, who was reduced in rank and court-marshalled for his outspoken advocacy.

In 1924, he actually predicted the 1941 Japanese “surprise” attack on Pearl Harbor, providing 17 years of strategic warning, regrettably ignored. World War II then demonstrated beyond dispute that we needed a completely separate Air Force — just as Gen. Billy Mitchell and his followers had advocated.

After the war, President Truman posthumously promoted him to Major Gen. and restored his back pay to his heirs.

I previously recalled some of this important history while remembering the famous Doolittle raid on Tokyo that demonstrated America’s resolve to fight back shortly after Pearl Harbor. As a tribute on the death of the last Doolittle Raider — Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot, USAF Colonel Richard Cole, USAF Secretary Heather Wilson named the B-2 Bombers now under development as “Raiders.”

Wilson’s tribute reminds me that the B-25 flown in the Raiders’ “30 seconds over Tokyo” was called the “Mitchell” after Billy Mitchell — the only USAF aircraft named after an individual. He is revered by many, including yours truly, as the “Father of the USAF.”

I can’t help but believe he today would understand the need for a separate Space Force to address the nation’s needs associated with rapidly advancing space technology that will revolutionize future warfare.

Ironically, Secretary Wilson’s legacy includes conditions leading to today’s status, where what we know of the U.S. Space Force seems devoted primarily to support the other services, rather than efforts to become a preeminent fighting force to, in and from space—like the air signal corps operations originally were to the Army.

The Space Force’s primary, if not complete, force application role (if any) appears to be to protect our space-based sensors and communication systems that support our ground, sea and air military operations.

Hopefully, it will not take a modern world war to persuade the current powers that be that the Space Force should evolve as rapidly as possible into the completely separate service originally proposed by President Trump. Russia and China are wasting no time in developing their own space forces — and in some regards we are playing catch-up.

Not the least of the shortcomings that should be rectified is the revival of space-based interceptors and other means to intercept such threats from space.

Recent reports that Russia’s Avangard boost-glide system is nearing an operational status to defeat all our currently operational missile defenses should cause pause.

Current directions and funding from Congress offer no indication that a needed space-based defense capability is to be pursued.

If we had built the Brilliant Pebbles space-based interceptor system that President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) indicated was possible by the mid-1990s, this widely reported threat would likely have been deterred.

Must we wait for Avangard and other likely threats from Russia and China to be fully developed, deployed and used before we wake up to this rapidly emerging threat?

We need a separate Space Force ASAP to focus realistically on these threats!

Eric Lofgren’s Defense News article appropriately titled “Will the Space Force Control its Own Destiny?” provides little hope of an affirmative answer. He describes organizational realities threatening substantial lethargy within the Air Force, the service in which I proudly served. I fear Lofgren’s concern is justified — and urge the powers that be to rectify this situation as soon as possible.

We urgently need an appropriately developed, deployed and operated Space Force, as recently discussed in depth by Retired USAF Lieutenant General Steven Kwast at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship speech and published in The Patriot Post.

So, will we have the needed Space Force — or kick the can down the road until we confront a Pearl Harbor in space from which we may not recover?

If I had to bet on the outcome, I would not bet that we could survive and recover from such an attack.

Hopefully, we will have the wit to avert such a Pearl Harbor in space. As stated last week, I believe the technologies needed to avoid that outcome are available, if we but focus on employing them.

After all, President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was on the verge of demonstrating the viability of needed space-based interceptors 30 years ago, when congress and the Clinton administration killed those efforts — that have since remained dormant through both Democrat and Republican administrations.

If we had proceeded with such a development and deployment of that then available defensive capability, I think hypersonic threats now being deployed by Russia and China would likely have been deterred.

It’s long past time for a revival, and we are playing “catch up” in some important areas. However, we have been in this position before and Americans have come through when it was needed. And it is needed now.

Bottom Lines.

To work toward those ends, I again endorse General Kwast’s call for the President and Congress move immediately as follows:

Congress should assign the Space Force the mission to defend commerce in space and define Cis-Lunar space (Earth to Moon) as an area of responsibility in the Unified Command Plan.
Congress should give the Space Force complete independence from the U.S. Air Force so that funds are not diverted from the former to the latter, and so that the Space Force isn’t developed as a mere support function for air power.
The President should issue an executive order protecting the space industry from China’s predatory practices.
The President should promote policies and strategies to maximize the contribution of the private sector, such as directing the Space Development Agency to partner with private companies to develop new space capabilities.

If development of the Space Force continues along the lines of what is currently planned, America will lose the strategic space race to China. This must not be allowed to happen. Our elected leaders must take action now.

And remember John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

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.

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