President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to begin preparations for establishing a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the military. The White House and Pentagon had previously considered such an expansion but up until now had ruled against doing so. However, it looks like the winds are changing.
The United States has long invested in space-faring technology but has generally done so as part of efforts to explore, not militarize, space. However, President Trump has deemed American involvement in space to have implications beyond “identity” and to be a national security concern.
If the space race is indeed militarized, it’s likely that space-faring technology research, development, and acquisition will get a huge cash boost. The U.S. spends roughly $600 billion on its military in any given year. NASA, on the other hand, got $19.1 billion in 2017. Any military Space Force would probably get substantially more funding with much of the money being poured into research.
Military investments in research, and specifically fundamental research that is unprofitable but advances technology and general scientific understanding, has helped spur the rapid advance of many technologies over the last several decades. GPS, computers, and the Internet, among many other technologies, were initially supported by (and some cases still are) military research.
As such, the establishment of a sixth branch of the military focusing on space could be a huge boon for space technology. Of course, space research won’t come cheap. Already, military expenditures consume roughly 20 percent of the national budget with Veteran Affairs costing another 6 percent. Adding a sixth military branch will likely increase costs, adding to your $20-plus trillion public debt.
Moreover, the Outer Space Treaty, signed by the United States, Soviet Union, and numerous other countries in 1967, largely prohibits the militarization of space. According to the treaty, the moon and other celestial bodies cannot host military bases. Likewise, space-based nukes are prohibited, as is conducting military maneuvers.
This raises many questions. If the United States adheres to the Outer Space Treaty, how effective and useful will its sixth branch of the military be? Military activities would be sharply restricted. On the other hand, if the U.S. withdraws from the treaty, it could cause international instability and spark a space arms race. With the U.S. already struggling to contain Russia and curtail China’s rise, opening up another front could stretch American resources thin.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis, President Trump, and the Air Force have all previously rejected a space-specific military branch. It’s unclear what has changed the equation. Before America pulls out the public credit card to ring up more debt, hopefully policymakers consider the full costs and benefits.
Separate but Equal and Much Ado About Nothing
On a side note, many media sources have been criticizing Trump for the use of the phrase “separate but equal” because those words were previously used in a Supreme Court ruling to justify segregation. The 1896 Supreme Court Plessy v. Ferguson ruling deemed that segregation was not discrimination so long as facilities were “separate but equal.” This would later (and rightly) be overturned.
Honestly, I find that to be disingenuous. I have a lot of criticisms of President Trump but his use of those words is innocuous, descriptive, and to the point in context. By claiming that the Space Force will be separate but equal, he is making it clear that he wants the Space Force to be of equal standing to the Air Force and other military branches, rather than a spin-off or sub-branch.
