Scoring the Space Force Stand-Up

Last July, as the Space Force debate was really heating up, I published an article in the Hill specifying 10 Things the Space Force Needs on Day 1.  As we are rapidly approaching the three-month anniversary of Space Force, I wanted to revisit that list and see how things are working out. What follows is my assessment of how things are going based on the top 10 things I believed that the Space Force should have worked out when it stood up on 20 December 2019. Just my opinion...

1)     Congressionally Defined and Supported Mission Statement

As best I can tell, Space Force does not yet have a mission statement. Which is weird, because it does have a congressionally defined mission. According to US CODE:

‘‘§ 9081. The United States Space Force

 ‘‘(c) FUNCTIONS.—The Space Force shall be organized, trained,

and equipped to provide—

‘‘(1) freedom of operation for the United States in, from,

and to space; and

‘‘(2) prompt and sustained space operations.

‘‘(d) DUTIES.—It shall be the duty of the Space Force to—

‘‘(1) protect the interests of the United States in space;

‘‘(2) deter aggression in, from, and to space; and

‘‘(3) conduct space operations.’’.

So this seems like it should be a pretty easy kill. The Mission Statement could be something simple like: The Mission of the United States Space Force is to conduct operations in, from, through and to space in order to protect U.S. interests, deter aggression and win wars. The bottom line is: it doesn’t have to be perfect. Other organizations update their mission statements over time, but we really should get something out there to guide our military space professionals.

I’m going to rate this 99% complete, because there is already congressional direction and support (which is the hard part) and all that’s needed are a few relevant words. It only took me two minutes to come up with my version, above; so, actual smart people could knock this out by tomorrow.

2)     All US Military Space Assets

This one is a bit tricky. If I’m reading the tea-leaves correctly, the Army and Navy will likely turn over their space based systems to the Space Force…however, they want to keep most of their ‘Space Coded” personnel. The Navy has already moved to reclassify most of their space folks, so they are harder to identify and transfer over. The Army will likely send a few token FA40s (Space Operators) but will try to justify keeping the majority of them in the Army to support organic space requirements at the tactical level. If they hold on to the billets, eventually they can be repurposed to actual army kind of duties. Complicating this further, is the very wise requirement that transfers to the new service be voluntary.  These are the reasons that this should have been determined prior to day one, so that with the declaration of Space Force, everyone’s status and options were already understood.

I’m going to rate this one 8% complete, because it still remains an Air Force game, working off an Air Force budget line with mostly Air Force people. I mean, really, despite the congressional language, everyone in DoD keeps saying that General Raymond, The Chief of Space Operations is the only actual member of Space Force… so maybe 8% in generous. This is not going well.

3)     A fully Open and Socialized Implementation Plan

No published plan... no real public discussion… no Space Force Public Affairs strategy or for that matter even a public affairs team. If there is a plan (and I’ve seen no evidence that there actually is) it is neither open, socialized, nor understood. Which is really squandering an opportunity to take advantage of the attention and excitement generated by the stand-up of the new service.

I rate this a 0.9% Complete but only because I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, otherwise it would be just 0%.. Again, this needed to happen before the Space Force was stood-up… we all knew it was coming, or at least that the President was wanting it to happen.  There should have been more resources put against this. Playing catch-up can be intimidating, but it is time for bold action…which leads me to…

4)     Bold Leadership ready to Drive Change

There is probably no way to discuss this without offending someone. I’m not pointing fingers at any individual, and I’m not accusing anyone of giving less than their best effort… but the President has called for Bold action.  There is nothing bold about waiting for further guidance or commissioning another study.  There is a narrow window to really get this going and the opportunity to make dynamic and meaningful change is fleeting.  The more the bureaucracy settles in, the more that Space Force will become Air Force Lite. (which a number of critical influencers actually want.) It seems to me that a tremendous amount of time is being wasted on deciding about things that either don’t require an excessive amount of thought (uniforms, rank structure, naming conventions, crest) and things that are going to remain/revert to status quo no matter what changes are attempted (Guard and Reserve Components, voluntary inter-service transfers) All of those things require decisions, but none of them are hard and the first group is entirely evolvable, so nothing done is really set in stone anyway. Yet knocking out these easy kills is critical for establishing the culture and sense of self within Space Force and it service members. Then the real Bold decisions need to be made (budget, organizational structure, professional development model, warfighting doctrine, training standards, etc.)

I actually can’t rate this one, because I don't know people's hearts or all the roadblocks they are facing...but over-coming challenges is what being Bold is all about.... XX% Complete.

5)     A Distinct and Appropriate Organizational Structure

What is the Space Force organizational Structure? Currently the Chief of Space Operations (CSO) reports to the Secretary of the Air Force.  There is a CSO staff and some other folks in other places, who actually belong to the Air Force but wear Space Force lanyards. To be fair, the structure is certainly distinct…a 1 billet uniformed service. It is not, however, appropriate.  I know there is ongoing work, and a ton of studies trying to figure this out, but as above, the basic organizational structure should have existed last year, so that plugging in critical elements would be more strait forward.

I rate this as 10% Complete, because something exists, but there is no evidence that the current structure is designed to address the deficiencies which the Space Force was created to overcome. It is should be pretty easy to get the process started.  Just create something that addresses all the critical elements and show Space personnel where they fit, and then modify it as requirements dictate (just like the other services do.) Maybe something like this:

6)     A fair number of People who were Never Airmen

Culture is king, if only Airmen are assigned to Space Force and all the support comes from the Air Force, then Space Force will be Air Force Lite…and there is no purpose in having a Space Force. Currently the Air Force is only accepting Airmen into the Space Force. There are apparently a few members of other services working on supporting Space Force, but there is no actual plan to bring over Army, Navy, Marine or Coast Guard personnel. (well maybe in the future, maybe) There are senior leader billets in the Army (and there were in the Navy until recently) supporting Space Operations. Those billets should be moved to Space Force. For this service to develop an effective space warfighting culture, it needs to embrace thoughts and thinkers from all services. That will not happen anytime soon if Space Force is simply a collection of former airmen.

I rate this 0.2% Complete, because there are a few personnel from other services involved in the process, although none are slated to Join the Space Force as things currently stand.

7)     A New Rank Structure and a Distinct Uniform Combination

This is easy. Why hasn’t it been done? It seems that many want to keep the existing ranks…(which will not help create a unique culture) and the uniform design process got a late start. I rate this 25% Complete because I’ve heard that there are official draft uniform designs. I Think the rest is pretty strait forward. In my lifetime, the Navy, Army and Air Force have made significant changes to their rank structures and even naming conventions. So start with something with a mix of joint traditions and something new. It’s easy. Like this:

I'm not saying this is the way to go...I'm just saying it didn't take me all afternoon to make this.

8)     New Commissioning, Enlistment and personnel development structures

As best I can tell this is at 0.00625% Complete since there is only one acknowledged member of Space Force, so far. What's the plan? 60 Cadets at the end of the Spring? How will they leave service if there is no reserve component?

9)     New Organizational Branding

Last time I checked, the sign at Building 1 (The old Air Force Space Command Building) had been taken down, but no new sign had replaced it. There is an Official Space Force seal, but a poor role out of the great new design has invited derision and calls for Paramount to sue over trademark infringement with Star Trek. (That shouldn’t happen, since the design has good military heritage and any cross development with Star Fleet logos is a definitive two-way street, inviting a counter suit from the Pentagon. The Air Force was using the delta symbol for air and space craft as was NASA, before there was a Star Trek.) Point being, what branding currently exists is controversial (because of the way it was introduced) or pointedly immaterial (Space Force lanyards.) I rate this as 25% Complete, because I’m assuming there are plans for resigning buildings and other branding activities but that the funding just hasn’t caught up, yet. I know…but, fingers crossed.

10) A Name for Space Force Personnel

I can’t believe this one remains unresolved.  This has been broadly discussed and lots of options have been suggested from reasonable (Sentinels) to ridiculous (Mélange). What more needs to be said? Airmen are called Airmen, because someone decided that it was an appropriate name…not aircrew, fliers, aviators, nor fly-boys. Naval Aviators are not called Airmen…again, because someone made a choice.  There now exists a Space Force, its members must be called something. Space Force Leaders, make the choice (that should have been made prior to 20 Dec 2019) and declare a name. I rate this at 50% Complete…because at least everyone is talking about it now, but come-on, it should already be in common parlance.

So after an admittedly unscientific review and with a generosity born out of a deep and sincere abiding love for the Air Force, and a very respectful hat-tip to congress (who actually did their job by providing guidance) I rate the overall completion of things that should have been done prior to standing-up the Space Force at 21.48% Complete. With a week to go until the 90 day mark, I’m sure there is more that could be accomplished, but there is so much that needs doing.

Space Force leaders, be bold. This list just scratched the surface, and yet it is so far from finished.  There are so many real challenges ahead: budget, organizational structure, professional development model, warfighting doctrine, training standards, MILCON, new weapon systems, personnel requirements. The longer this takes, the worse things will go for Space Force…I can promise you the Air Force is already planning to do the Space Force budget what the Navy has already done to their space billets. You are running out of time.

Timothy Cox is a retired Air Force officer with decades of experience in Space Control, Counter-Space and Joint Operational Planning. He has served as the Chief of the Space Control Division at Headquarters Air Force, the deputy chief of staff at United States Air Forces Central Command, an assistant professor at the Joint Forces Staff College and has commanded at the squadron level. Based in the National Capital Region, he in employed in the satellite industry.