New Pentagon Memo Lays Out Action Plan to Space Force by 2020

[Judi Lynn]

By Sandra Erwin, SpaceNews Staff Writer | September 16, 2018 08:28am ET

WASHINGTON — Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan this week issued a detailed plan for how the Pentagon will move forward to create a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces by fiscal year 2020.'

The plan, laid out in a Sept. 10 memo titled "Space Reorganization and Management Tasks," includes actions that the Pentagon will pursue using executive branch authorities — standing up a unified command for space, a Space Development Agency and Space Operations Forces. These proposals were presented to Congress in a report on Aug. 9. The establishment of the Space Force as a military branch must be approved by Congress and written into legislation. Shanahan's Sept. 10 memo, a copy of which was obtained by SpaceNews, explains the steps DoD will take to develop a legislative proposal.

The changes directed by Shanahan only apply to DoD and not to the intelligence community, even though organizations like the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency have key responsibilities in national security space. "Only DoD space functions would move into the Space Force," the memo says. "National security space components outside of the DoD should not be included in the legislative or budget proposal, but will be considered in an interagency process."

The Director of National Intelligence is cc'ed in the memo.

Shanahan's orders have short deadlines. Many of the tasks are due in the coming weeks, and the legislative proposal could arrive at the White House as early as Dec. 1, 2018. To avert concerns that a new service will saddle the military with billions of dollars in added overhead costs, the memo says the Space Force should have a "lean" bureaucracy.

More:
https://www.space.com/41842-space-foce-by-2020-pentagon-memo.html

[Autumn]

1. Just what we need. Another military branch sucking us dry.

[Canoe52]

2. Must be a lot of crime going on in the space station.

New show this fall Forensic Files - Space Edition

These people are nuts!