Toward the Creation of a U.S. "Space Force"
Abstract
For over two decades, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and others have found that fragmentation and overlap in national security space acquisition management and oversight have contributed to program delays and cancellations, cost increases, and inefficient operations. Congress has attempted numerous organizational and acquisition reforms to address these problems. In the view of many observers, these efforts have generally been unsuccessful. In addition to these perceived managerial deficits, Congress has more recently expressed concern over the slow pace with which the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Air Force have addressed the growing threat to U.S. national security in space from adversaries, particularly Russia and China, and to a lesser extent North Korea and Iran. Some in the military and elsewhere now increasingly refer to space as a warfighting domain; once seen as peaceful and uncontested, space is now viewed as crowded and adversarial. Generally, House Members have led the effort to remove institutional barriers to space acquisition reform by advocating for the creation of a new entity for national security space. Until recently, the Senate largely favored efforts to reform existing organizations rather than authorize new ones. However, as part of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) deliberations, both chambers passed (and the President signed) legislation that authorized the creation of a subordinate unified command known as the U.S. Space Command (under the U.S. Strategic Command). The reorganization was intended to address long-standing concerns related to space acquisition management and sharpen DODs strategic focus on space. DOD recently developed a series of additional proposals that would authorize the creation of an 11th unified combatant command responsible for space.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 16, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1172060
Entities
People
- Jennifer K. Elsea
- Kathleen J. McInnis
- Lawrence Kapp
- Stephen M. Mccall
Organizations
- Library of Congress