Trump’s ‘Space Force’
This editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
Many Americans gaze at the sky and see only a vast uncharted frontier for exploration. But President Donald Trump reminds Americans that there’s another potential reality in space: It could become a military battlefield, a place where this nation’s independence is protected or lost.
The point isn’t to repel an alien invasion from deep space. We’re not worried about Klingons. But Americans do have reason to be concerned about technologically advancing adversaries here on Earth. China and Russia have ambitious satellite programs. Such satellites can be used for improving telecommunications, internet coverage, weather forecasting. Or they may be weaponized to shoot down rival satellites, disrupt a nation’s land-bound electrical grid, and stake a claim to space (and hence ground) superiority.
A war in space could be swift and devastating. “We could be deaf, dumb and blind within seconds,” says Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat. “Seldom has a great nation been so vulnerable.”
Trump’s solution: Create a “Space Force” to defend this nation’s security against adversaries that could gain military superiority on the ground via military dominance overhead, in space.
Trump recently ordered Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford to take on the mission. “Our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security,” Trump said.
Trump’s Space Force may never fly. But he’s right to remind Americans that this nation’s adversaries pose a threat to national security. The space race isn’t just about war, but about resources. In 2007, Russia, the nation of Sputnik and illegal territorial expansion, planted a flag 3 miles beneath the North Pole to stake a claim to the polar region’s vast oil and gas deposits. We imagine Russian President Vladimir Putin would love to shove the U.S. flag aside on the moon — or beat the U.S. to colonizing Mars — and proclaim them the bounty of his rapacious expansionism.
The case for a defensive posture in space has strengthened with the possibility that some U.S. rival will learn how to paralyze — from space — this nation’s digital and other electrical systems.
Space is supposed to be the new, limitless frontier for peaceful endeavors. But a geopolitical tussle on Earth could easily morph into an arms race in orbit. Whatever you call it, the U.S. needs a smart, robust defense — and offense — in space.