Category: Politics

While reading through the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, which is the act passed by Congress in December 2019 that establishes the United States Space Force, I was struck by how the legislation reads. It is surprisingly straightforward, and also incredibly amusing at times. There is a lot to be said about about legislation which I alluded to in the first post related to the Space Force. But, I will restrain myself here, focusing solely on how the pertinent information in the legislation compares to Space Policy Directive-4, which was discussed last week.

For those interested in reading along, the relevant part of the aforementioned act begins on p. 949 of the PDF linked above (which is p. 902 as labeled in the document.)

Continue reading “Space Force – Part 2”

While researching documents related to the formation of the Space Force, it made the most sense to begin with Space Policy Directive-4. The Space Policy Directives have been a series of executive orders released by President Trump starting in 2017. The first three of these established the desire to return to the moon; discussed regulations of the commercial use of space; and worked through how to approach space traffic management, respectively. The fourth directive establishes the United States Space Force.

Continue reading “Space Force – Part 1”

A year and a half ago, Trump announced his intentions of forming a sixth branch of the US military: the “Space Force”. Just last week, a defense bill was passed that included appropriations and direction for the creation of said branch. This felt like an excellent opportunity to dive back into research mode and figure out what I could using primary sources. So I’ve been spending time digging up memos, executive orders, and legislation related to this process. Over the next month or so I’m planning on writing a few posts discussing how we got here, what the stated intention of the Space Force was, what it sounds like it will be immediately, and what it might become in the future.

Reading these documents is tough and somewhat amusing; it makes you wonder how many words of legislation are never read. The aforementioned defense bill closes in on 4000 pages. But that’s beside the point. The relevant section is actually only about 20 pages, which then makes you wonder how much wiggle room there is. But we’ll get to that.

Of course what I’m going to come up with is probably less useful or accurate as those writing based on insider information, but I have a strong sense that many news reports began as notes taken from a spoken summary in a press briefing, then new reports are written based on the initial ones. In either case, it’s good to be aware of where these documents are accessible, even if reading some parts is an exercise in futility.

Much of the rhetoric that has been pervasive over the past year, and especially with the election of President Trump, is related to how much value society places on qualifications when it comes to hiring and listening to people to help run the government.
Continue reading “Qualifications”