President Donald Trump on Thursday directed his administration to establish a U.S. Space Command that will help America achieve "dominance in space."

The space command operation, which was directed by the president and will be undertaken by the Defense Department, will be "established as the newest unified combatant command under the Department of Defense and will include forces from all Military Services."

"When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space." Trump said.

"United States Space Command will be established as the newest unified combatant command under the Department of Defense and will include forces from all military services," according to information provided by the White House.

U.S. Space Command will be comprised of military personnel, civilian employees, and contractors, according to the White House.

Every branch of the U.S. military will participate in the project "to achieve vital victories in space," the White House said.

"Delivering combat power by operating superior space capabilities such as communications, intelligence, navigation, and early missile detection and warning" will be a chief goal of the project.

"The establishment of United States Space Command represents a crucial step to improving the nation's space war fighting structure in our ever evolving world," the White House said.

The Trump administration is concerned that America's failure to dominate in space will jeopardize the country's national security and leave it vulnerable to opposing global powers.

"The United States is reliant on space for everything from vital military systems that protect us to widely used consumer systems that benefit our economy," the White House said. "We have the strongest military in the world, but failure to act now may allow our adversaries to overcome our competitive advantage by denying us access to the space domain."

"Going forward, the United States must have the freedom to take advantage of the untapped opportunities that space presents to our nation," according to the White House.