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.