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President Trump Directs Pentagon To Create New 'Space Force' Military Branch (defensenews.com)

Gunfighter shares a report from Defense News: President Donald Trump on Monday appeared to sign an executive order directing the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force," a move that could radically transform the U.S. military by pulling space functions variously owned by the Air Force, Navy and other military branches into a single independent service.

"I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces," Trump said during a meeting of the National Space Council. "That's a big statement. We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force. Separate but equal. It is going to be something. So important," Trump added. "General Dunford, if you would carry that assignment out, I would be very greatly honored." Dunford responded in the affirmative, telling Trump, "We got you."
The oddity of Trump's statement was that it was followed up with a White House readout that "contained no language related to the creation of a new military branch, leaving open the question of whether Trump has actually issued formal guidance to the military," reports Defense News. It is believed that Trump still needs the support of Congress to actually establish a space force.

23 of 513 comments (clear)

  1. Headquarters and starfleet academy by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Should be in San Francisco.

  2. Cyberspace by denbesten · · Score: 4, Insightful

    .... Seems like cyberspace is the more pressing thing to defend.

  3. Drain the swamp! by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We need more federal agencies for the taxpayers to support! Drain the swamp! That is what it means, right?

  4. Re:Yes Trump Can! by jwhyche · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So he wants to be a 'war president" and yet ends the Korean war, and works hard on bring peace to the region? As its says in the book I'm currently readying, "You are as addled as an unhatched egg abandoned in the sun." An that is Truth.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  5. Re:Keeping another campaign promise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It sounds expensive.

  6. Job #1 by Dzimas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Oh, the one-liners almost write themselves.

    "It's fascinating to see an administration that's so anti-science enthusiastic about something that requires so much science."

    "I hear the first job of the Space Force will be to build a really, really big wall to keep the green people out."

  7. Re:Gundams? by powerlord · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why else would he be pushing to get the Koreas talking to each other?! Obviously he's trying to get all the forces behind Giant Robot production lined up as allies.

    --
    This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
  8. Build a wall... by junk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    around the whole planet! We'll make space pay for it! And we're gonna tariff the hell our of Jupiter! And any Martians that dare try to sneak through our wall, asylum or not, will have their little baby critters put into a small box and shaken! Because America... errr... Earth!

    Thank little baby cheesus for family values and fiscal conservatism.

    Moron...

  9. Re: This Jackoff by Miser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I really, really, hope you are trolling.

    If serious, it's comments like these that make me just want to turn Amish and disappear into the woods/nature/BFE/etc.

  10. Re:Yes Trump Can! by Ogive17 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All Trump did with N. Korea is escalate the situation then deescalate it to the previous level.

    --
    "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
  11. Re:This Jackoff by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They're not keeping children in "concentration camps" on the southern border. Geeze, you people are self-parody.

    They are absolutely keeping children in concentration camps.

    First, maybe we should establish a definition of "concentration camp"" According to Merriam-Webster, a concentration camp is, "a camp where persons (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained or confined"

    https://www.merriam-webster.co...

    Next, we should establish that Trump is indeed keeping children in such places [note: I purposely only include foreign news sources for this, so you can't claim some local political bias]

    https://news.sky.com/story/hun...

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...

    https://www.standard.co.uk/new...

    And when did this new policy of indefinite detention of children start? May of 2018.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...

    Further, since people who present at a port of entry requesting asylum have broken no US laws, the Trump Administration is separating children from parents who have done nothing wrong and holding them in concentration camps just to exert political pressure on his opponents.

    https://www.vanityfair.com/new...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  12. Re:Evidence of necessity? by greythax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, For what egomaniacal reason Trump is doing this is beyond me, but devils advocate, I don't hate this idea. If this is what we have to do to fund research into space vessels where large numbers of people can live without the hazards of space cutting their lifespans in half, I am all in. The one thing this country has repeatedly demonstrated is that, while it begrudges nasa every cent, there isn't a military spending bill that won't instantly pass. This could be a back door into developing a second wave of technologies that we export to the rest of the world, much in the same way we stimulated the economy with the first space race.

    However, my gut tells me we will just start shooting drones up there.

  13. Re:Yes Trump Can! by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Trumps' only motivation in anything he does is to feed his own ego. Everything else is secondary to that.

  14. Re:This Jackoff by dyfet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's also be clear...

    https://slate.com/news-and-pol...

    What kind of person takes other peoples children hostage as a "negotiating strategy"??

    Yes, I am going to use the T-word, terrorist, in this case.

  15. Re:Another PATENTLY RETARDED and SUPERFLUOUS promi by Darinbob · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Dammit, I miss Reagan. I didn't agree with him most of the time, but I could respect him. Today the conservatives in power seem to be mimeographed copies of copies of such that the end result is smudged and incoherent and totally unlike the original.

  16. Re:Keeping another campaign promise by youngone · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not actually a Limey, but as a loyal subject of Her Maj I am happy that the leader of her loyal opposition can (and does) ring up the Prime Minister and have a sensible conversation with her.
    He will then oppose her if he thinks he should, but not in a totally random, unpredictible way. (I don't live in the UK, but also happen to have a lady Prime Minister, and a chap as the opposition leader).

  17. Re:This Jackoff by greenwow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    concentration camps on our Southern border

    Calling them that is an insult to every victim of the Holocaust. I'm old enough to have known dozens of survivors, and you are insulting them with that hyperbole.

    Also, why blame Trump when this has been happening for years? The picture from 2014 that came out recently showed children being separated from their parents and put into cages years before Trump was elected.

  18. Re:Yes Trump Can! by quantaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Trump absolutely escalated the situation, but the de-escalation is far below the "previous level".

    The previous level included regular, albeit infrequent nuclear weapons tests and sabre rattling, which included rocks fired toward and even over Japan. The previous administration's response to all North Korean activity was to literally ignore it.

    All of those tests were part of a program to get effective reliable Nukes and long range missiles.

    They didn't stop the tests because Trump scared them, they stopped the tests because they got their Nukes and missiles working.

    I'm not saying another President could have avoided that, but Trump's threats and bluster didn't avoid anything.

    Trump, ignoring all of his inelegance, is the first US President to ever meet with a North Korean leader

    Which has been a major NK objective forever. Something Trump should have gotten concessions for (recall the GOP scorn and outrage when Obama suggested he could meet without preconditions).

    and, like it or not, he offered two very realistic outcomes to them:

    1. Face annihilation in a war that they cannot hope to win with a people too starved to support a long war, let alone with the backing to do it (Kim didn't even fly on a North Korean plane to the meeting because they do not have one that can go that far!).
    2. Open up and become a more traditional nation internationally, gaining the investment opportunities and thus money that that brings, while also giving up all nuclear ambitions, which should be easier since their testing site imploded.

    That's a lot different than the "previous level".

    It's the game NK has played forever, work on your Nukes and endure the rising tensions and sanctions. Then play nice and talk up peace and denuclearization in return for sanctions relief.

    I'm sure the same thing will happen again, Kim will say all the right things and get whatever relief he can, up until he thinks his defensive capabilities are falling behind and then he'll start testing again.

    --
    I stole this Sig
  19. Re:Consolidating what is already going on ... by postbigbang · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It looks like five different aviation commands, but it's actually nine, and some say operationally, more. Think: DHS, DEA, NSA, CIA with more likely.

    This is a PR stunt, and a sabre-rattling exercise. US space assets are easy targets.... and so are the assets of almost everything out there, given laser and microwave weaponry.

    It's all for the fake news press, folks. Nothing to see here.

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    ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
  20. Re:Evidence of necessity? by quantaman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This kind of stuff takes a lot of money. Is there any proof or compelling evidence that we *need* a space force separate from what our current military provides?

    Sure.

    None of them is a major branch of the military founded by Trump.

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    I stole this Sig
  21. Re:Another PATENTLY RETARDED and SUPERFLUOUS promi by riverat1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What the Hell does this have to do with Reagan? He was a Conservative and a Republican. A real one.

    By today's Republican standards Reagan would be a RINO.

  22. Re:You're not giving him nearly enough credit by swillden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Our attempts to overthrow dictators in Iraq, Libya and Syria (and our coup of elected president in Iran) haven't worked out too well. Maybe we should try something different.

    If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  23. Space Force Should Be Like Coast Guard by kenwd0elq · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Rather than the US Space Force being a purely military organization, it would make sense to have a Space Force structured like, and with similar missions as, the US Coast Guard. As people and businesses move into space, we're going to NEED some sort of spaceborne Search and Rescue organization, perhaps with vessel inspection capabilities and missions. Perhaps the Space Force can be tasked with inspecting commercial spacecraft and satellites and ensuring that they aren't hiding military equipment.

    And in the event of hostilities, the Space Force would, similar to the Coast Guard, become part of the Navy.