Pentagon chief backs watered-down Space Force in new setback for Trump

[JacksinPA]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/space-force-pentagon-trump-1134069

The Pentagon appeared to back away today from President Donald Trump’s proposal for a standalone Space Force, in yet another sign of trouble for the White House’s attempt to establish a sixth branch of the armed services.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters he wants the Space Force to fall under the Air Force — a move that would give it a much less prominent role in the military firmament than what Trump has outlined in multiple speeches.
===============================================
Shanahan to Trump: No Buck Rogers for you. Fewer generals, fewer layers of waste.

 

[Bullseye]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/space-force-pentagon-trump-1134069

The Pentagon appeared to back away today from President Donald Trump’s proposal for a standalone Space Force, in yet another sign of trouble for the White House’s attempt to establish a sixth branch of the armed services.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters he wants the Space Force to fall under the Air Force — a move that would give it a much less prominent role in the military firmament than what Trump has outlined in multiple speeches.
===============================================
Shanahan to Trump: No Buck Rogers for you. Fewer generals, fewer layers of waste.

Just so we're clear Shanahan works for Trump, not the other way around. He's entitled to an opinion and the right to express it to Trump but in the end when Trump says "Do it" Shanahan's only responses are "Yes, Sir" or "I resign". End of story.

ETA: You also left out this little gem:

It was unclear whether Shanahan’s remarks are a sign that the Pentagon disagrees with the White House on its Space Force strategy or whether the administration as a whole has decided to alter its approach to bolstering the nation’s orbital defenses. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Seems kind of silly when private contractors can perform space missions quicker and for a reduced price.

 

[OrphanSlug]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/space-force-pentagon-trump-1134069

The Pentagon appeared to back away today from President Donald Trump’s proposal for a standalone Space Force, in yet another sign of trouble for the White House’s attempt to establish a sixth branch of the armed services.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters he wants the Space Force to fall under the Air Force — a move that would give it a much less prominent role in the military firmament than what Trump has outlined in multiple speeches.
===============================================
Shanahan to Trump: No Buck Rogers for you. Fewer generals, fewer layers of waste.

It was a stupid idea anyway, we already have a "space force"... i.e. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)... and it is already part of the Air Force.

Sixth branch of the armed services... FFS... we have a complete moron for a President.

 

[Xelor]

Pentagon chief backs watered-down Space Force in new setback for Trump

In the two years Trump and his appointees have left running the Pentagon, there's no "space force" coming to fruition.

 

[Hawkeye10]

The global agreement that space will not be militarized is dead.

If there is a GOD many he/she/whatever help us.

 

[Mr Person]

For some reason I suspect that the General of Space Force would be looked down on by the other generals.

It's not like he's ever going to be asked to launch an invasion of Mars. He'd be sitting there reading about reports on satellite movement all day.

 

[CMPancake]

I mean while we're at it, fold the Marine Corps into the Navy and fold the Air Force back into the Army.

 

[Tangmo]

The Republican congress voted down a new separate "space corps" in 2017.

This congress won't be considering anything like it much less take seriously a sixth branch of the armed forces for space specifically.


As defense officials wrung their hands over how to handle a presidential directive they didn’t want, the Trump reelection campaign saw the Space Force as an opportunity to excite the president’s base. In August, the campaign sent an email to supporters chock-full of colorful logos for the Space Force, inviting them to vote on their favorite. Once they picked, they were brought to a page seeking donations for Trump’s reelection. Campaign staffers had hoped to sell the glamour of the Space Force, but beyond the bubbly logos, there was little to showcase. The Space Force didn’t exist, and even if it did, it would amount to a bureaucratic reshuffling.

To some, the Space Force appeared to be another of the president’s substance-free schemes. My colleague David Graham compared it to Trump University, the now-defunct venture that presented itself as a prestigious academy for real estate but actually scammed students out of millions of dollars. “Trump is selling the public one idea—a glitzy, pathbreaking new wing of government—and giving it instead a potentially kludgy reorganization of existing government functions,” Graham wrote.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/space-force-trump-democrats-congress/575359/

 

[Helix]