Biden seen likely to keep Space Force, a Trump favorite

WASHINGTON — To the last moments of his presidency, Donald Trump trumpeted Space Force as a creation for the ages. And while President Joe Biden has quickly undone other Trump initiatives, the space-faring service seems likely to survive, even if the new administration pushes it lower on the list of defense priorities.

The reason Space Force is unlikely to go away is largely this: Elimination would require an act of Congress, where a bipartisan consensus holds that America’s increasing reliance on space is a worrying vulnerability that is best addressed by a branch of the military focused exclusively on this problem.

The new service also is linked to an increasing U.S. wariness of China, which is developing capabilities to threaten U.S. satellites in space and which has become, in the minds of some, the singular national security challenge. Russia, too, stands accused by Washington of seeking to challenge American dominance in space.

“They’re building capabilities to use space against us. We have to be able to respond to that,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Security Space Association, an advocacy group, last week, referring to Russia and China.

As a career space officer, Hyten says he often gets asked what will become of Space Force under Biden. And while he offered no prediction, he clearly believes Space Force should remain.

Biden has not publicly commented on his intentions with Space Force. His defense secretary, Lloyd Austin , has been noncommittal while stressing the strategic importance of space. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Biden’s view.

Although some see it as a Trump vanity project, Space Force is not the farcical force of the public imagination. In the military, it’s seen soberly as an affirmation of the need to more effectively organize for the defense of U.S. interests in space — especially satellites used for civilian and military navigation, intelligence and communication.

While far smaller than any other branch of the military, Space Force is acquiring the standard trappings of a service, including an official flag, logo, seal and doctrine. It has launched commercials to attract recruits. After lengthy debate, it was decided last month that Space Force members would be called guardians, although they don’t yet have an official dress uniform. The force is planning to expand its ranks from 2,400 active-duty members to 6,400 by the end of this year.

A proposed Space Force organizational chart.

Kaitlyn Johnson, an expert on space policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says bipartisan congressional support for Space Force makes it likely that Biden will not push for its undoing.

“I think this is a good thing, as the Space Force has had barely a year to set itself up and get to work,” she said. Adds her think-tank colleague, Todd Harrison, “The odds of it being repealed are close to zero.”

Space Force was launched in December 2019 as the first new military service since establishment of the Air Force as an independent entity in 1947. Its leader, Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, has a seat at the table with the other Joint Chiefs, although Space Force operates as part of the Department of the Air Force, much like the Marine Corps is a separate service but is overseen by the Department of the Navy.

The push for more emphasis on space has gone beyond Space Force. A separate but related move in August 2019 reestablished U.S. Space Command; it is not a military service but a central command for military-wide space operations. Space Command had been dissolved in 2005 and absorbed by U.S. Strategic Command, a post-9/11 move aimed at freeing up resources to strengthen homeland defenses.

Trump also reconstituted the National Space Council, which coordinates policy in civil, commercial and national security space matters. It had been dormant since the administration of President Bill Clinton.

The push to create a military space service began well before Trump entered the White House. But his relentless advocacy dulled what remained of opposition inside the Pentagon, where some officials — especially in the Air Force — believed a separate service was unwarranted and duplicative. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, who became the Air Force chief of staff after Space Force was born, says it is time to stop debating and instead focus on making the best possible use of Space Force.

Biden has said little about the military’s role in space, but he did bring with him to the Oval Office a symbol of his interest in space exploration — a moon rock brought home by Apollo 17 nearly half a century ago.

Austin, the new defense secretary, has been noncommittal on the question of keeping Space Force. Asked by the Senate Armed Services Committee prior to his confirmation hearing whether he thought creation of the new service was “warranted,” Austin demurred. He noted dryly that Space Force emerged after years of study by Congress and other groups. He sounded unenthused.

Austin didn’t suggest he would recommend scrapping it. He said he would study it, noting that space is a vital interest.

“Looking ahead, the DOD space enterprise is still not well-integrated with other services and terrestrial commands, and there are several other challenges that will need to be addressed, as would be expected when establishing a brand new military service,” Austin wrote.

The nonpartisan Secure World Foundation, which advocates for the peaceful and sustainable use of outer space, has urged Biden to build on the space policy decisions of the Trump administration, including Space Force.

“Consistency across key national space efforts ... will help move the United States forward and demonstrate stability to international partners by avoiding the constant reset and lack of strategic direction that has happened in the past during presidential transitions,” it said in a report last month.

华盛顿——唐纳德·特朗普总统在其任期的最后一刻，仍将太空军吹捧为一项划时代的创举。尽管乔·拜登总统迅速废除了特朗普的其他一些举措，但这项太空探索服务似乎仍有望保留，即便新政府可能将其在国防优先事项清单上的排名降低。

太空部队不太可能消失的原因主要在于：取消太空部队需要国会立法，而两党一致认为，美国对太空的日益依赖是一个令人担忧的脆弱性，最好由一个专门负责解决这一问题的军事部门来解决。

这项新服务也与美国日益增长的对中国的警惕有关。中国正在发展威胁美国太空卫星的能力，在一些人看来，中国已成为美国面临的唯一国家安全挑战。此外，华盛顿还指责俄罗斯试图挑战美国在太空领域的主导地位。

“他们正在发展利用太空对抗我们的能力。我们必须能够应对这种情况，”参谋长联席会议副主席约翰·海顿将军上周在国家安全太空协会（一个倡导组织）上表示，他指的是俄罗斯和中国。

作为一名资深太空军官，海顿表示，他经常被问到拜登执政后太空部队的未来走向。虽然他没有做出预测，但他显然认为太空部队应该保留。

拜登尚未公开评论他对太空部队的意图。他的国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀对此态度暧昧，但强调了太空的战略重要性。白宫没有回应置评请求。

尽管有些人认为太空军是特朗普的一项面子工程，但它并非公众想象中那般荒诞无稽。在军方看来，太空军的成立是对美国在太空领域（尤其是用于民用和军用导航、情报和通信的卫星）更有效地维护自身利益的必要性的肯定。

尽管太空军的规模远小于其他任何军种，但它正在逐步建立起一套标准的军种体系，包括正式的旗帜、标志、徽章和条令。太空军已经投放广告招募新兵。经过长时间的讨论，上个月决定将太空军成员的称呼改为“守护者”，尽管他们目前还没有正式的制服。太空军计划在今年年底前将其现役人员从2400人扩充到6400人。

太空部队组织结构图草案。

战略与国际研究中心太空政策专家凯特琳·约翰逊表示，国会两党对太空部队的支持使得拜登不太可能推动解散太空部队。

“我认为这是一件好事，因为太空军成立至今还不到一年，需要时间进行筹备和运作，”她说。她的智库同事托德·哈里森补充道：“这项法案被废除的可能性几乎为零。”

太空军于 2019 年 12 月成立，是自 1947 年空军作为独立实体成立以来第一个新成立的军种。其领导人约翰·W·“杰伊”·雷蒙德将军与其他参谋长联席会议成员一起参与决策，尽管太空军作为空军部的一部分运作，就像海军陆战队是一个独立的军种，但由海军部监督一样。

对太空领域的重视程度已超越了太空部队的范畴。2019年8月，一项独立但相关的举措重建了美国太空司令部；它并非一个军事部门，而是负责全军太空行动的中央司令部。太空司令部曾于2005年解散，并入美国战略司令部，这是9·11事件后为释放资源以加强国土防御而采取的一项举措。

特朗普还重组了国家航天委员会，该委员会负责协调民用、商业和国家安全领域的航天政策。自克林顿总统执政以来，该委员会一直处于休眠状态。

创建军事太空部队的呼声早在特朗普入主白宫之前就已开始。但他的不懈倡导削弱了五角大楼内部残存的反对声音，一些官员——尤其是空军官员——认为设立一个独立的太空部队既没有必要，又会造成重复建设。太空部队成立后出任空军参谋长的查尔斯·Q·布朗将军表示，现在应该停止争论，转而集中精力如何最大限度地发挥太空部队的作用。

拜登很少谈及军方在太空领域的作用，但他确实把一件象征着他对太空探索兴趣的物品带到了椭圆形办公室——一块近半个世纪前阿波罗 17 号带回地球的月球岩石。

新任国防部长奥斯汀对是否保留太空军的问题一直态度暧昧。在参议院军事委员会的确认听证会上，当被问及他是否认为组建太空军“有必要”时，奥斯汀避而不答。他淡淡地指出，太空军是国会和其他机构经过多年研究后才成立的。他的语气听起来兴致缺缺。

奥斯汀并没有暗示他会建议取消这个项目。他说他会研究一下，并指出太空探索是一项至关重要的领域。

奥斯汀写道：“展望未来，国防部太空事业与其他军种和地面司令部的整合仍然不够完善，而且正如建立一个全新的军事部门时所预期的那样，还有其他几个挑战需要解决。”

倡导和平、可持续利用外层空间的无党派组织“安全世界基金会”敦促拜登在特朗普政府的太空政策决策基础上继续发展，包括建立太空部队。

该机构上个月在一份报告中表示：“关键国家太空工作的连贯性……将有助于推动美国向前发展，并通过避免过去总统换届期间不断出现的战略调整和缺乏战略方向的情况，向国际伙伴展现稳定性。”