Among the signatories of an open letter in support of the proposed Space Force is former Defense Secretary William Perry. | Cliff Owen/AP Photo Space National security leaders urge Congress to back Space Force

More than three dozen former military and intelligence leaders are urging Congress to get behind a separate military Space Force, lending key support to President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal as Congress prepares to vote on the idea.

“We strongly encourage action to establish the U.S. Space Force, to realize the full potential of space power and space capabilities in order to protect and advance U.S. vital national interests,” the retired senior leaders of the Department of Defense, Air Force, Navy, CIA and other national security agencies write in an open letter to oversight committees.


The group worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations and includes former Secretary of Defense William Perry, who served under President Bill Clinton, and Robert Work, the No. 2 at the Pentagon under President Barack Obama. Others who have signed on are retired generals, admirals and other senior political appointees who have overseen military space and intelligence operations over the last several decades.

They maintain that only a standalone branch will ensure that the military gives the space mission the attention and resources it deserves — including training personnel and building the skills needed for the future.

“The establishment of the U.S. Space Force as an independent armed service within the Department of the Air Force is a fiscally responsible approach to address the issue,” they argue. “The U.S. Space Force will develop military space culture and ethos; recruit, train, educate, promote, and retain scientists, engineers, and warriors with world-class space skills and talent; advocate for space requirements and resources; develop space doctrine and operational art; develop, field, and deliver advanced space capabilities; and steward resources to sustain America’s strategic advantage and preeminence in national security space activities.”

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The letter was organized with the help of Velos, a consulting and engineering services firm that counts among its clients a slew of space and defense companies. Many of the former government officials who signed on to the letter also have financial ties to the space industry.

For example, former Rep. Robert Walker, the Pennsylvania Republican who chaired the House Science Committee, has long been a leading space industry consultant. Doug Loverro, a former senior Pentagon official, runs his own defense consulting firm. Marc Berkowitz, another senior Pentagon official overseeing space policy, is a vice president for Lockheed Martin overseeing space programs.

The Space Force proposal calls for establishing the new branch under the Air Force similar to how the Marine Corps is officially part of the Navy but operates independently. It is currently being reviewed by Congress, where there remains deep skepticism.

Members of both parties have raised questions about whether creating the first new branch of the military in more than 70 years is worth the cost — even though the initial force would consist of only some 20,000 personnel, a small fraction of the size of other military branches.

The Senate and House Armed Services committees are reviewing the proposal as part of their deliberations over the Fiscal 2020 Defense Authorization Act, while the two Appropriations committees are also poised to weigh in on the details and the associated cost.

“I understand the threat. But I don’t understand how adding a box to an organization chart is going to give us some kind of qualitative military edge,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said at a hearing on the Space Force proposal last month.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also expressed the reservations of many lawmakers about adding billions of dollars in more bureaucracy. He questioned why the need to accelerate the development of space technologies and enhance military training could not be accomplished within the current structure, which includes a military Space Command.

“Unless, as Senator King said, we’re going to have a large number of actual soldiers in space fighting and they need a different set of skills, this is primarily going to be about technology and acquisitions and so forth,” Cotton said. “So a lot of us on the committee are trying to figure out what’s the incremental advantage of having a separate Space Force,” Cotton said.

Other leading military strategists have also recently come out against the proposal on the grounds that the effort of building a sixth branch will actually detract from the space mission, at least for the first few years.

But in their letter shared with POLITICO, the Who’s Who of former military and intelligence leaders contend that the Space Force is the best approach to ensuring that space does not become an Achilles’ heel for U.S. security.

“The establishment of a new military service for space is necessary for putting America on a path to effectively deter conflict from beginning in or extending into space,” they say, “and, if deterrence fails, to defeat hostile actions and protect our economic and national security interests in space.”

Martin Faga, a former director of the National Reconnaissance Office who helped organize the effort, stressed that no one in the Trump administration asked for the letter.

But Faga, who was in charge of building and operating the nation’s spy satellites, told POLITICO the debate over the wisdom of the Space Force was on full display in putting the letter together.

He said that while most of the former officials who were asked to sign on agreed with the premise, “Others said, ‘I don’t buy it.’”