A Home for Space Force

As Space Force rapidly approaches its 4th Birthday, it’s time that it got a place of it’s own!?

It is worth noting that while every other service has at least one installation in the National Capital Region, the United States Space Force does not have a place of its own in or near Washington DC. Space Force needs some territory near the capital to bed down its senior leaders, host events and landmark its legacy, over time.?Unfortunately, property is expensive and hard to find in the Washington D.C. and its suburbs, so this could be a serious problem.?Fortunately, however, The United States’ oldest national space installation, tracing its origin as far back as 1830, is actually in Washington, just up the hill from Foggy Bottom and the State Department.?Specifically, the Washington Naval Observatory.?

Don’t worry, the Navy also has other Washington area properties including the Washington Naval Yard in the southeast part of the city, where its senior officers reside, and the Naval Research Lab in Anacostia.??Other services are well set in the national capital region as well.??The Marine Corps has the Washington Barracks in the city, Anacostia (Home of Marine One) and Henderson Hall across the river near Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia.??The Army has Fort McNair (home of the National War College and Eisenhauer School) in the city and Forts Meyer, Meade and Belvoir in the immediate vicinity.?The Air Force has Bolling Air Force Base, in Anacostia, and Andrews Air Force Base, just off the Beltway in Maryland.?Even the Coast Guard has its headquarters in Anacostia and a scattering of small stations around the immediate environs in Maryland and Virginia.?Only Space Force lacks a slice of territory in the Capital.

This means Senior Space Force leaders must reside on host facilities.?The current Space House, home of the Chief of Space Operations is a hand me down house located on Bolling, which was neither designed nor configured for permanently lodging a Service Chief and the appropriate supporting staff.?This arrangement will complicate the ability of Space Force and its senior leaders to host events which promote the Space Force and build partnerships, domestically and internationally.?This situation should be corrected.

At its current location since 1893, situated in the heart of the diplomatic district, The Washington Observatory not only watches the stars and provides atomically precise Master Clock timing for GPS satellites, but it also contains (According to Wikipedia) the “largest astronomy library in the United States” as well as “the largest astrophysical periodicals collection in the world.”?This is the first home of all things space in the United States and has a legacy of military space activities going back more than a century.?The base and its resident space missions should be transferred to the Space Force where they belong.

The base also has two beautiful historic homes.?The first of which houses the Vice President of the United States (who it should be noted has led the national Space Council over succeeding administrations).?The Navy will understandably be reluctant to let this connection to the Vice President’s person go, but it serves no actual military purpose for the Navy to hold the property simply because the Vice President resides there.?The Space Force is just as capable of hosting the Vice President’s home.?The Second historic house has served a rotating group of residents, usually while their primary quarters?undergo renovations.?This would make a fine Space House, wherein the CSO and their family could reside, and?the artifacts and linage of the Space Force and its senior leaders could be collected and honored.?Barring that, there is still sufficient real estate on the observatory grounds to allow the construction of a new Space House, if the billeting requirements necessitated it.? There is also space to build additional senior leader housing and a little of the support structure that service Chief’s require for their military, diplomatic and social obligations.

At its founding, the Space Force should have been assigned the space observation mission of the US Navy and with it the facilities, resources and territory where those missions are accomplished.?If a number of terrestrial Navy missions need to remain on the Washington Observatory, they can easily be hosted by Space Force, just as various Space Force units are hosted by other services.

The Washington Observatory offers an obvious parring or location, physical space and mission which aligns with the Space Force mission.?Congress and the DoD should act to provide the Space Force a home in the National Capital Region and its senior leaders facilities worthy of the duties and obligations commiserate with their roles.??

Timothy Cox is a retired Air Force officer and defense professional with decades of military air and space experience.?He works in the aerospace industry and lives in the National Capital Region. His opinions are entirely his own.