Trump announces plans to create space force

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday he is directing the Pentagon to create a new “Space Force” as an independent military service branch aimed at ensuring American supremacy in space — though he may have limited power to develop a new military command.

While Trump has previously talked about his desire for a space unit, he seemed to take those musings one step further, specifically ordering the Pentagon to begin the creation of a sixth branch of the American armed forces.

“When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space,” Trump said during remarks at the White House.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said that the department understands the president’s guidance, and is working on the matter while taking into consideration the implications for intelligence operations for the other services. “Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders,” she said.

A senior congressional aide said that Trump’s order is consistent with efforts by members of Congress over the past two years to find a way to dedicate additional resources to the country’s warfighting in space. But the issue has been contested, and even Defense Secretary Jim Mattis expressed some early reluctance to creating a new military service citing the expense and broader effort to integrate warfighting.

In a March document outlining the review, the Pentagon said it has already made organizational changes to beef up the stature of the space force, but is reviewing others. The document sent to Congress said the review will look at research, capabilities, acquisition and joint warfighting needs, and will assess “whether the Space Corps concept should be implemented.”