Donald Trump of Space Command
“It’s A Big Deal . . . . It’s All About Space.”
What once was America’s “New Frontier” is now its “next warfighting domain.”
On August 29, Donald Trump formally reestablished the United States Space Command — which Trump hopes will be the foundation of the United States Space Force, a fully formed branch of the United States military.
Trump said of the new command, “It’s a big deal. As the newest combatant command, SPACECOM will defend America’s vital interests in space — the next warfighting domain. And I think that’s pretty obvious to everybody. It’s all about space.”
Of course, a U.S. space command is nothing new. In 1982 — during the Reagan Administration when there was some vague thought we could launch the Strategice Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars) — the Air Force Space Command was established. (Or, “was stood up” as military types would say.) The AFSC was responsible for, among other things, launching and maintaining satellites used in intelligence, weather, and early warning systems. The AFSC operated for 20 years, then got rolled into other services after 9/11 when American defense refocused on anti-terrorism.
The re-establishment of the space command is step one in levering military space into its own separate military branch. This is roughly…
