ON A TREK TO PLANET CRAZY
Pence touts plan to battle rampaging E.T.s
The Trump administration is ready to go to infinity and beyond.
Vice President Pence on Thursday laid out the administration’s ambitious plans to create “Space Force,” a new military branch to protect the U.S. from extraterrestrial threats.
Pence warned of space-age advancements made by China and Russia as he echoed President Trump’s celestial call-to-arms and vowed to have the new military service operational by 2020.
“Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield,” he said during a brief speech at the Pentagon. “The time has come to establish the United States Space Force.”
Trump could barely contain his excitement Thursday.
“Space Force all the way!” he tweeted.
The creation of a sixth branch of the military, which would need approval from Congress, has been met with opposition from some Defense brass and analysts who say it would be an unnecessary bureaucratic and financial burden on the Pentagon.
Most space-based military maneuvers are currently overseen by the Air Force, which was established in 1947 and contains Space Command, which was created in 1982.
Space Command oversees roughly 30,000 military and civilian personnel and is headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
Pence insisted that the force would “not be built from scratch,” but draw from the men and women who are already running America’s space programs.
“Our administration will soon take action to implement these recommendations, with the objective of establishing the United States Department of the Space Force by 2020,” he said.
The vice president outlined a Pentagon report that was delivered to Congress later in the day. The report details what the department can do unilaterally to implement the President’s plan.
The 15-page proposal explains the need for the cosmic squadron to “protect our economy through deterrence of malicious activities, ensure our space systems meet national security requirements, and provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces across the spectrum of conflict.” It does not offer an estimated cost of the project, noting that budget material will be sent to Congress next February.
Pence called on Congress to invest an additional $8 billion in space security systems over the next five years.
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Thursday that the “report reflects a clear-eyed view of the future as the Department takes the steps necessary now to implement President Trump’s vision for a space force.”
Mattis has previously voiced his opposition to the creation of a new branch of the military, writing to Congress last year that it would “likely present a narrower and even parochial approach to space operations.”
Trump first launched the idea of a separate intergalactic corps earlier this year.
In March, the President indicated he wasn’t completely serious about the additional defense during a speech at a Southern California air base.
“I was not really serious,” he said, before adding, “I said, ‘What a great idea; maybe we’ll have to do that.’”
By June, though, Trump was signing an executive order calling on the Pentagon to carve out the star squad.
“We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal,” Trump said at a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House.