Editorial: Congress should approve the rightsized Space Force concept

Keeping the Space Force within the Air Force, as directed by President Donald Trump this week, serves the national interest. There was no reason to create an entirely new and separate military branch when the Air Force already has laid the appropriate foundation for this work.

Our military and civilian sector both are enormously dependent on satellite communications, and foreign nations have developed major capabilities to harm U.S. space-based assets. The administration has rightly recognized that the priority needs to be strengthening and coordinating our space defenses against such attacks, rather than devoting energy to creating a new service branch.

Although the administration ultimately would like to have a separate Space Force as originally proposed by the president, “we’ve heard the concerns from Congress about not creating a large bureaucratic organization,” a White House official told the military news service Defense One. For the time being, the administration aims “to leverage the capabilities and the expertise that’s already resident in the Air Force.” U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a former commander of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force, has called for that lighter approach.

Read the full article and more in the Omaha World-Herald.