President Trump US Space Force Announcement
On Monday June 18, 2018, at the third meeting of the National Space Council at the White House, President Donald Trump announced and gave a speech establishing a new branch of United States military services, a six branch called Space Force.
This article contains a short summary of the announcement, followed by the full text of the President’s announcement (a full video of the speech can be seen here on CSPAN starting at 6:27 – six minutes 27 seconds).
Space Policy is Important to the Trump Administration
Space is obviously a key focus for the Trump administration, as announcements have come consistently since he has been in office about space policy.
The most visible step taken has been the reactivation of the National Space Council by President Trump almost a year ago on June 30, 2017. This Council had been de-activated by the first President Bush. Links to information on the first two meetings of the National Space Council are below.
US Space Force: Announcement Summary
The United States already has a major command under the US Air Force officially titled Air Force Space Command (see Wikipedia article here) or the US Space Command.
In his speech, President Trump stated:
“Very importantly, 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.
That’s a big statement.”
~ President Donald J Trump, National Space Council speech June 18, 2018.
Thus, it appears that the Space Command will now be elevated to equal footing as a military branch, the US Space Force. How this occurs in detail may be part of future announcements.
During the speech, he asked General Joseph Dunford, a US Marine Corps General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to take on this assignment.
“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.
General Dunford, if you would carry that assignment out I would be very greatly honored, also. Where’s General Dunford? (Right here.) General? (I got it.) Got it? (I got you.) Let’s go get it, General.
But that’s the importance that we give it. We’re going to have the Space Force.”
~ President Donald J Trump, National Space Council speech June 18, 2018.
Interestingly, the key mechanism that President Trump put into place immediately after making this announcement was to implement a new directive on managing traffic in orbit of this planet.
“In a few moments I will sign a new directive to federal departments and agencies. They will work together with American industry to implement a state-of-the-art framework for space traffic management. But don’t let it get to out control, please [the level of regulations].
….Two previous administrations tried and failed to develop a system to deal with congested conditions in in orbit. We are finally going to get it done. It’s going to happen fast.”
~ President Donald J Trump, National Space Council speech June 18, 2018.
This seems like a key step in achieving the dominance he is talking about – know everything that is up there, and where it is. And, knowing what is coming and going in our atmosphere.
Love, Solaris
Note from Solaris Modalis on this hand transcription: This transcription may differ from any official documents – check official documents for final versions.
I have underlined parts of the speech that stood out for me.
President Donald Trump Announces ‘US Space Force’ Sixth Branch of Military Services
Monday, June 18, 2018
“Welcome to the third meeting of the National Space Council. I want to begin by recognizing our great vice president Mike Pence who has been so involved. And Mike I want to thank you for the incredible commitment to American leadership in space.
I also want to thank Secretary Wilbur Ross (Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Louis Ross Jr.), Secretary Elaine Chao (Secretary of Transportation Elaine Lan Chao), Director Mulvaney (Director of Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney), Director Coats (Director of National Intelligence Daniel Ray Coats), Administrator Bridenstine (Jim Bridenstine NASA Administrator).”
Regarding Bridenstine Trump joked “Congratulations, you better do a good job or I’ll say you’re fired in two minutes! You have a lot of support and you’ve loved this right from the beginning.”Administrator Bridenstine said “Yes, Sir!”. Trump continued, “He was in Congress, he did an awfully good job but this was his love.” Bridenstine responded “Yes, sir.” Trump continued, “Good luck!”
[Continuing the thanks Trump said] “Secretary Wilson (United States Secretary of the Air Force Heather Ann Wilson), General Dunford (United States Marine Corps General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Francis Dunford Jr.), Under Secretary Thompson (Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the US Department of State Andrea L. Thompson), Deputy Secretary Shanahan (Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan) and Acting Deputy Secretary Grady (Acting Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security Claire Grady) for being here today.
We’re honored to be joined by Congressman Robert Aderholt, Congressman Brian Babin, and Dana Rohrabacher – stand up congressmen, please. Thank you.
And a special welcome to a strong, powerful, wonderful woman, who does a great job as Governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey. (Am I doing okay in Alabama? I better be doing okay in Alabama – we love Alabama!)
I also want to recognize three true American heroes:
– The first woman to command a space shuttle, the great Eileen Collins – stand up Eileen, great job! It’s a lot of time in space.
– Along with legendary Apollo astronauts Jack Schmitt and Buzz Aldrin. Buzz has been a friend of mine for a long time. Jack, thank you very much. Thank you!! Great.
And I also have a list of some of the CEO’s and Charimen of some of these incredible companies:
– Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop (Northrop Grumman), thank you very much.
– Gwynne Shotwell (President and Chief Operating Officer at SpaceX), stand up Gwen – she’ll end up running for office soon.
– Bob Smith (CEO of Blue Origin) – thank you Bob I hear you’re doing a great job.
– President and CEO United Launch Alliance – that’s a combination of Boeing and Lockheed on the space launch system SLS – I don’t like when Boeing and Lockheed get together because the pricing goes up, but that’s okay in this case. I don’t know I don’t love that stuff, we’re going to have to talk about that you joining those two companies. Look at Denis, Dennis is so happy (Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg) – I don’t like that stuff, Mike (laughter from the audience).
– Marillyn Hewson (Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation) who has done a fantastic job at Lockheed Martin. Marilyn, what do you think of that merger for the space launch – oh look at them, they are sitting together no wonder we don’t get the pricing we want! (Laughter from audience.)
– Dennis Muilenburg, a friend of mine, a great guy and the head of Boeing and boy have you done a great job on all fronts – commercial, military, both of you (Marilyn Hewson) what a job you have both done – stay apart, don’t get together, stay apart! (joking).
– And you’re just a great group of other executives are here from the top companies.
And it’s patriots like you that are the reason why America was first in flight, first to the moon and why America will always be first in space. You know before I got here, it wasn’t looking so good!
Before we came in, I will tell you, they didn’t have such big plans for space – now they have plans. And it’s great, not only in terms of jobs and everything else is great for the psyche of our country.
This morning it came out that small business is the most optimistic it’s ever been in the history of our country – that’s pretty good. Now I don’t know if they go back to 1776, I don’t know if they go back to, you know, areas of a little bit earlier, slightly like by a hundred years or two hundred years, but I will tell you, I have never seen optimism like we have right now. So it’s very exciting time.
I want to also say that when it comes to space too often for too many years our dreams of exploration and discovery were, really squandered by politics and bureaucracy – and we knocked that out. So important for our psyche, what you’re doing.
It’s going to be important monetarily and militarily, but so important for right up here (pointing to his head), the psyche. We don’t want China and Russia and other countries leading us. We’ve always lead. We’ve gone way far afield for decades now having to do with our subject today. We’re going to be the leader, by far. We are behind you, a thousand percent.
America’s vital interests in space lost out to special interests in Washington. Except of course for the senators and congressmen here. They would never do it – right, Dana? But all of that is changing – we know that.
My administration is reclaiming America’s heritage as the world’s greatest space-faring nation. The essence of the American character is to explore new horizons and to tame new frontiers. But our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security – so important for our military – so important, and people don’t talk about it.
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 – so important.
Very importantly, 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. 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. General Dunford, if you would carry that assignment out I would be very greatly honored, also. Where’s General Dunford? (Right here.) General? (I got it.) Got it? (I got you.) Let’s go get it, General.
But that’s the importance that we give it. We’re going to have the Space Force.
One year ago, I revived the National Space Council and put exactly the right man in charge and that’s our friend, Mike Pence – feels very strongly about this. And in December I signed a historic directive that will return Americans to the Moon for the first time since 1972 – if you can believe that.
Always remember, it’s about that but it’s also about jobs and the economy this is a great thing we’re doing. This time we will do more than plant our flag and leave our footprints, we will establish a long term presence, expand our economy, and build the foundation for an eventual mission to Mars which is actually going to happen very quickly.
And you know I’ve always said that rich guys seem to like rockets. So all of those rich guys that are dying for our real estate to launch their rockets, we won’t charge you too much. Just go ahead. If you beat us to Mars we’ll be very happy and you’ll be even more famous.
But they do like – explain that – where’s Eric – they do like rockets for some reason, huh? They like those rockets. But you know what? If – If – As long as he’s – it – as long as it’s an American rich person that’s good, okay? They can beat us.
We’ll save a little money and they can beat us and we’re taking full credit for it, don’t worry about it.
But we’ll be setting aggressive timelines, challenging old ways of doing business, and we will be expecting real results. And we are making our incredible facilities – okay – available to these people that have been doing so incredibly by themselves on rocketry. So you’re invited, the rent won’t be high.
I am instructing my administration to embrace the budding commercial space industry.
We are modernizing out-of-date space regulations. They are way out of date! They haven’t been changed in many, many years. And today we’re taking one more step to unleash the power of American ingenuity.
In a few moments I will sign a new directive to federal departments and agencies. They will work together with American industry to implement a state-of-the-art framework for space traffic management. But don’t let it get to out control, please [the level of regulations].
We know about what’s going on with a lot of other rules and regulations. By the way we’ve set the all-time record in [the] history of this country in cutting regulation. So when I hear about that I get a little bit tenuous. Be careful, don’t get too carried away.
But we have, we’ve cut more regulations than any administration. Whether it’s four years, eight years or 16 years in one case, we’ve got more regulations than any other president in history. A And I actually think that along with the massive tax cuts, I think that the regulation cutting may have even had more of an impact on the economy. It’s been incredible. We have regulation. We have a lot of regulation. We have good regulation. But, you don’t need 20 years to get rejected from building a highway. We can reject you in two years or one year. We have it down from 17 years, down to two. We expect to get it down to one. And if it’s not good, we’re going to reject but it’s going to be a fast rejection. You’re not going to go an entire lifetime only to find it’s not going to be built.
Two previous administrations tried and failed to develop a system to deal with congested conditions in in orbit. We are finally going to get it done. It’s going to happen fast. One year from now our nation will mark an important milestone in human history: Half a century since Americans first stepped off the Eagle and onto the moon. That was a big – that was a big day, right? In that magnificent moment, the American astronaut embodied the incredible spirit of America: the confidence of a cowboy, the skill of a fighter pilot, the ambition of a scientist and the courage of a true, true brilliant tough warrior.
They bounded fearlessly into the unknown to be there first. They did the impossible because they knew that together there is absolutely nothing Americans can’t do. When we get together there’s nobody even close.
Now, we are ready to begin the next great chapter of American space exploration. This is a very important day, this is a very important gathering.
A new generation of young people seeks to challenge. Really, challenge hard to get their talent and their skill to work. And now we’ve giving them a forum and a platform from which they can put that genius to work.
Legions of welders and metalworkers, scientists and engineers, stand ready to build a powerful new rocket and gleaming new spaceships and that goes with all of the other things we’re building in our country. Our nation of pioneers still dreams to conquer the unknown.
Because, we are Americans and the future belongs totally to us. Once more we will launch intrepid souls blazing through the sky and soaring into the heavens. Once more we will summon the American spirit to tame the next, great, American frontier. And once more we will probably lead humanity – and that’s what it is, it’s humanity – beyond the Earth and then to those forbidden skies but they will not be forbidden for long.
You’re very important people. You have a great, great contribution. What you’re doing has been incredible but it will be even more incredible. Far more incredible, because we are giving you a platform the likes of which nobody has ever been given before. I am a big believer. You will go out there and you will take that frontier, which is largely unknown by man or woman. And you will learn everything there is to know about it. And what you’re doing is so important.
Remember: Economically, militarily, scientifically, in every way, there’s no place like space. Good luck General Dunford and the Joint Chiefs, I want to wish you a lot of luck with Space Force. But that shows how important it is. Congratulations on your tremendous success. But you’re going to have far more success right now. Thank you very much, thank you.”
~ President Donald J. Trump
Notes:
This was the third meeting of the National Space Council. CSPAN videos of remarks by Video President Mike Pence of the first two meetings of the Council are here – National Space Council CSPAN video archive. The first meeting of the council (since the 1970’s) was on October 5, 2017 and the second meeting was on February 21, 2018.
The video of President Trumps full address to the third meeting of the National Space Council on June 18, 2018 can be found here – President Trump’s address to – third meeting of the National Space Council. Interestingly, the summary by CSPAN plays down the announcement by President Trump, and does not mention the establishment of the US Space Force at all. Possibly this is because main stream media would be more interested in his near term comments on immigration at the beginning of his speech.
Photographs and video of President Trump at the meeting of the National Space Council on June 18, 2018 sourced from CSPAN President Trump on Space Research and Development Programs.
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News commentary © 2018 Solaris Modalis. All Rights Reserved. Permission is given to share this article on other blogs and websites as long as the text is posted in its entirety without alteration and with the accompanying photos, and with the author’s credit, copyright and live website links included in the article. All photographs and videos created by Solaris Modalis are not retouched or manipulated: color edits to images are specifically indicated if presented. This article was originally published at: https://SolarisModalis.com/president-trump-us-space-force-announcement
