While key members of his administration oppose him, Donald Trump seems intent on forging ahead with plans to create a sixth military branch–in outer space, as Renee Parsons reports.
By Renee Parsons
At a recent meeting of the newly-revived National Space Council, President Donald Trump announced the Space Policy Directive: National Space Traffic Management (STM) Policy and ordered the Department of Defense to establish a Space Force as a sixth branch of the US military.
Creating a “separate but equal” Space Corps would need Congressional authorization, however, which could abort Trump’s lift off.
Members of Trump’s own cabinet, including the secretary of defense, are opposed to creating a new military branch, meaning the president’s plans could be left on the launching pad.
The Directive suggests an overly-ambitious mission of broad, wide-ranging goals with no timeline or funding under the guise of a ‘space junk directive’ to clean up a “congested and contested” cosmos. That promises to keep the military industries happy while making space safe for the coming commercial space industry (CSI).
Specifically, the Directive provides a role for the Department of Defense “to protect and defend US space assets and interests.” The Director of National Intelligence is supposed to provide a Space Situational Awareness (SSA) of “knowledge and characterization of space objects.” Expanding on the U.S. role in outer space, Trump could not be clearer about his intentions: “Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security. We must have American dominance in space.”
As the U.S. presumes to act on behalf of other countries on the planet and commercial space endeavors, the Directive proposes to establish operational criteria with the assumption that all players will accept such U.S. dominance.
Opposition within the Trump Administration has been vocal, with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson suggesting that, “The Pentagon is complicated enough. This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart, and cost more money.”
In an October, 2017 letter on the National Defense Authorization Act 2018, Defense Secretary James Mattis commented: “I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint war-fighting functions.”
Mattis: Opposes a new military branch.
In a second letter to Congress, Mattis reiterated, “I do not wish to add a separate service that would likely present a narrower and even parochial approach to space operations.”
Outer Space, Out of Mind
Despite Pentagon opposition, an administration witness told a recent House Armed Services subcommittee that “the President has prioritized space. He recognized the threats that have evolved and the pace at which they evolve.”
In March, the president endorsed a Space Force during a White House ceremony, saying, “We’re getting very big in space, both militarily and for other reasons,” suggesting that the true purpose of a Space Force may be more than the equivalent of a celestial traffic cop.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, there are 1,738 operational satellites with 803 US satellites in orbit (476 commercial, 150 government, 159 military and 18 civil). Russia has 142 operational satellites and China has 204. There are also 2,600 non-functional human-made satellites, most of which weigh less than 5 tons and fly in a low orbit specifically programmed to burn out and fall to earth after 25 years.
It is difficult to conjure up the effects of a “growing threat” from human-made orbital clutter and debris floating in the infinite vastness of outer space as significant enough to qualify as a national security risk. Nor would U.S. global dominance be required to sweep the cosmos clean of said debris. What could Trump be thinking in pushing this idea against the wishes of the top brass? Perhaps he is referring to something other than debris and clutter.
While outer space is a wide-open, limitless expanse that remains as clandestine as any black ops project, global citizens are familiar with the noteworthy increase of reported extra terrestrial activity across the planet.
Especially intriguing are former astronauts who have commented on their experiences as well as members of the U.S. military who have described sightings that move at very high velocities with no visible signs of propulsion or that hover with no apparent means of lift and can change direction or speed on a dime.
Revealed in December 2017, the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which prepared a 500-page document of worldwide UFO sightings, was Congressionally funded by former Senator Harry Reid (D-NV). In a CNN interview, retired AATIP director Luis Elizondo, who resigned in protest over “excessive secrecy” said, “My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone.”
Two events that dared challenge the government’s decades of secrecy with open disclosure were two press conferences at the National Press Club in Washington featuring retired military personnel providing public comment on their direct experiences with an extra terrestrial world in their official capacity. The first press conference occurred on September, 10, 2001, one day before the 911 attacks and another on September 27, 2010. Both press conferences were organized by Dr. Steven Greer of the Disclosure Project, who also produced the videos Sirius and Unacknowledged.
In responding to the Directive, Greer claimed he has been “talking about this for years and has spoken to multiple witnesses who said that at least since the 1960s the U.S. has had military assets in space. They (Trump administration) are acknowledging something that is already there. However, what is not being talked about, even now, is that those military assets are tracking and targeting ET craft.”
On the edge of human consciousness lies a more subtle, potentially less obvious presence than the usual political adversaries as the U.S. continues to lay specious claim to ownership of Outer Space.
A version of this article was first published on Global Research.
Renee Parsons served on the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC. She can be found on Twitter @reneedove31
Go ahead Trump. If proceeded with it will truly bankrupt the US economy – as the Star Wars bluff nearly achieved until it fooled the former Soviet Union into its demise. This will merely give massive profits to military-related companies, at the expense of US taxpayers.
This will be a demonisation of Space and merely get China & Russia together to counter the US. Given Trumps abuse of his allies (especially the EU & Canada) they will likely to team up too to counter the perceived US threat.
Any bets on China having a base on the Moon/Mars by 2050?
If anyone is interested in the history of UFO beliefs in the USA, take a look at “The Saucer Life” podcast. https://saucerlife.com/
I agree. I remember reading in Harper’s Magazine a few years back about a Fundementalist Zoroastrian sect that did not practice either cremation nor did they bury the bodies of dead adherents, believing that the corpses would defile the four elements, the sect, based in Mumbai, India, practiced a form of Sky Burial where the remains would be left on pyres behind the high walls of an opened roofed temple. It would not take long for a wake of Vulures to descend for the feast. The problems started when the Vultures began dropping dead. It seems that the cadavers were so toxic with pharmaceuticals, especially Digitalis, as well as other toxic externalities of modernity that it was driving this bird species to the brink of extinction. When the lifeless flesh of homo sapiens is so infused with poison that we make buzzards drop you have to wonder if something has been miscalculated.
The Parsis .
Stephen Greer is a nut-burger, and deserves no more credence than Young Earth Ereationists, Hollow Earthers, etc.
I find it hard to believe that Trump has even heard of exopolitics, let alone is motivated by it. His Space Force is probably meant to be another “defense” boondoggle. With luck, it’ll be a big nothing, like “W” Bush’s Mars program.
Find it surprising that neither the author nor any of the comments included the fact the Air Force already has a Space Command.
http://www.afspc.af.mil/About-Us/
We can’t fix our infrastructure, we can’t have national health insurance, but we are going t squsnder big bucks on a Space Force. Amazing!
After reading this article, the notion that human stupidity never ceases to amaze me is confirmed once more. The good thing is that not all the top military brass is on board. I call this idea of creating another military branch in space insanity on steroids. This new insane idea among prior ones reminds me of Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act III, Scene1 play in which king Henry the V utters this famous quote “Once more unto the breach, dear friends”
I read these comments and see a plethora or armchair analysts, opinion writers and scientists railing against the writer and the site for something they can’t even allow discussion on. That’s sad because I also wonder how they feel about the current mythology related to a magic man in the clouds. The self proclaimed scientists are a particular joy because they feel that the ‘science is settled’ … yet there is still so much they don’t know about most things already … resulting in a total loss of objectivity. I’m an opinion writer and like everyone else I don’t know for certain but it is just as plausible that the current myth.
Kenny, I hope that I can offer an explanation that you will find well intended and not meant to be critical in any way. Here’s the thing: from a “scientific” point of view, the people making these claims are the ones who have lost objectivity. Scientific methodology is largely based on the concept of “empiricism”. Empirical information refers to things that can be measured, analyzed and quantified. Physical properties, chemical structure, mechanical attributes such as hardness, temperature, solubility, specific gravity, reflectivity, magnetism and radioactivity are empirically quantifiable. Science takes the empirical evidence and creates a hypothesis to explain it. If the hypothesis is valid, then it will demonstrate predictable repeatability under experimental circumstances. The whole process depends on evidence of “something” actually existing before any discussion can be undertaken. Objectivity requires avoiding discussions or conclusions absent any evidence. In the case of UFO’s, regardless of the claims made by proponents, there is no empirical evidence. None. Of course, the passionate aficionados claim that, “There is evidence, but the government is hiding it”. But the evidence for that belief is also non-existent. There is only hearsay, claims, assertions and conviction. This amounts to faith, not facts. Claimants famously state, “I know what I saw”. In actual fact, they only know that they “saw something”. They don’t know what it was, what it was made of, where it came from, how much it weighed, how fast it went, or whether or not it was even a solid object. Of course, it’s impossible to prove a negative to a certainty, but scientists have been rethinking the so-called “Fermi Paradox” and the “Drake Equation”. Some legitimate scientists believe that we may in fact be the only intelligent life in the known universe. Legitimate scientists wouldn’t be making such claims if there were evidence to the contrary. So far, there is none. No proof of extraterrestrial visitation has ever been presented by or to any recognized scientific body. There is only passionate conviction on the part of “true believers”, the same faith that characterizes any religion. In fact, a few psychiatrists have ventured to claim that UFO’s are a manifestation of human proclivity for religious belief. And, religion is by no means objective. Hope this provides a reasonable alternative view.
While your points are well taken about the unknown and the weak suppositions of people claiming another presence, your comment:
F.G. Sanford
“Some legitimate scientists believe that we may in fact be the only intelligent life in the known universe. Legitimate scientists wouldn’t be making such claims if there were evidence to the contrary.”
The claim about the scientists that think there is something are on no more shakier ground than those who think there is not.
Still, since I prefer to live in a world without aliens, I don’t believe there are any either. Common sense helps us keep our sanity.
I really appreciate the contributions of people like you to the Consortium community.
Issac Asimov – “There are two possibilities. One, we are alone in the universe, or two, we are not. Both possibilities are equally terrifying.”
Personally, just looking at the law of averages, I believe it is highly likely that life exists ‘out there’. It may not be ‘intelligent’, or it may far surpass our technologies. But I am pretty sure it is out there.
Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame) – “The surest sign that intelligent life exists is that it has never visited [earth] … “.
Going to need to find an enemy to inflate the space budget. Simulated alien terrorist attack should do the trick. ET returns home as an extraterrestial terrorist. Coming soon to entertain you. Report any aliens promptly.
Even Bush backed away from this ridiculous space-force thing
Ain’t that a case of false advertising. Treaty of “peaceful use of space” while deployment of weapons is allowed.
Of course it is meaningless since the only reason why it held up as long as it did was that there was no way to definitely tell apart conventional from nuke weapons (especially miniaturized) being launched into space especially low orbit and hence previous mutual restrain and demand that no kind of weapons are deployed whatsoever.
That changed after collapse of USSR all bets were off. In last decade China and Russia caught up with US that for over a decade runs secret space shuttle drone program testing various weapons may be even deploying some of them.
US was shocked when few years ago China attacked and destroyed her own malfunctioned com satellite using some not disclosed weapons. Trump is doing what he is told by generals and posturing against Chinese oligarchic elite as a part of global medial confrontation started by Obama and extended by Trump into South China sea belligerent provocations and instigating trade war.
It is fact future war will be all about space superiority meaning a sort of “star wars” to destroy command and control capability of enemy while restraining use of nukes to exigent circumstances of ultimate retaliation before imminent defeat.
Russia recently change their war strategy by diminishing reliance on space communications and space geolocation and command and control as unreliable moving such infrastructure deep underground while betting on highly autonomous military units acting quasi independently from central command that became too easy target of enemy.
Yes, China used a Earth based Laser defence system to knock out its own Satellite! This not only stunned the US, as they have no such weapons to compare with China’s technological advancements, at present, but also displayed the vulnerability of America’s entire MIC & it’s satelite systems! China only spends about $20-$30 billion on its MIC, which is a small amount compared to the US, but what they’re technologically achieved on such a small budget is impressive! Contrast this to America’s MIC, this bloated, wasteful $800-$900 billion a year spend with more than a trillion dollars spent on that high tech Turkey the F35 & the US still don’t have new weapon systems such as lasers or hypersonic weapons to compete with China or Russia! Where or who is the money going to that justifies this collosal waste of US Taxpayer money because it sure as hell ain’t going on developing superior weapons systems?
China’s only test destruction of a satellite, in 2007, did not in fact employ a laser, but rather a ground-launched “kinetic” kill vehicle – something the U.S. first did in 1985 – so it wasn’t particularly advanced, just anti-social: the Chinese test created a record amount of persistent orbital debris.
It was the U.S., in the 1990s, who seems to have gotten further than anyone else in developing a ground-based laser for such a purpose, before abandoning it.
The whole enterprise is pure yahooism in the original sense (see “Gulliver’s Travels”, Part IV), hardly anything for either nation to boast about.
The only effective use of the money is campaign bribes to politicians for more MIC money.
Not long ago in one of my comments, I referenced a 1959 Scientific American article regarding so-called “millenarian movements”. It’s a classic, but I guess nobody read it. I don’t “make stuff up”. My academic background began in anthropology. After eleven years of university and graduate level training, including two post-doctoral programs, I think I can say with some level of authority that…”I know something about science”. In another comment that was deleted, I referred to the (spurious) “claim” by Gordon Duff that Eisenhower signed a treaty with “space aliens”. According to this fantasy, Eisenhower obtained advanced technology in exchange for permitting said “aliens” to harvest human beings as a “food source”. Links to both articles are below for your edification and amusement.
The UFO “phenomenon”, if studied carefully, is not revealed to be a “secret” that has been kept by the government. What is revealed is a conscious effort to “sell” this nonsense by elements of the intelligence and military industrial communities. If you rightfully believe that Hollywood works in tandem with government to spread propaganda, it should not surprise you that the marketing of UFO subculture goes “way back”. Check out a youtube video called, UFOs The True Story of Flying Saucers 1956, for a great example. You’ll get to hear Harry Morgan play a jet pilot chasing a flying saucer – one of his greatest cameo roles. Guy Banister of JFK fame and Mark Felt of Watergate fame are two intelligence community “insiders” who have also been involved in UFO sagas. Far from discouraging “belief”, various government agencies have aided and abetted this nonsense. The only “full disclosure” anyone can expect is that they may admit pumping out this lunacy to enhance budget increases and to promote public paranoia.
This “phenomenon” represents a form of cultural psychosis no different than the “Cargo Cults” induced by culture shock among non-literate people. Steven Greer is no different than a primitive shaman selling a new version of the “Second Coming” or “The Black King”. Listen to the REAL SCIENTISTS: people like Seth Shostak and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Pop-culture icons like “Lionel Nation” will claim these are “gatekeepers hiding the truth”. They aren’t. Read the articles I linked, and see if you can wrap your head around the notion that sheer lunacy and cultural psychosis is not confined to non-literate populations. Advanced technological societies experience it too. How else do you think we got all these problems?
https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2012/12/01/secret-space-war/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1959-cargo-cults-melanesia/
FG, what the hell would a spacefaring, superior intelligence want anything to do with us, as a self destructive & insane bunch of creatures who are hellbent on destroying their own planet through senseless Wars, famine or Environmental damage & Climate change? And humans as a food source? My God, I pity the Aliens who would want to chow down on grisly humans they’d probably choke to death! As for UFO’s if they have a master plan for the human race, apart from making us into human taco’s I’ve yet too see any evidence of their existence!
As the man said, KiwAntz, they only want to eat us!!!!!! LOL.
Sex tourism, blood sports. Perhaps they gamble on the outcomes of our wars, the way we gamble on cockfights. We could a place to stock up on supplies and get some R&R while gathering space rum. If space aliens were visiting us, it would be like whalers visiting Nuku Hiva or Rarotonga, around 1800.
This is all fantasy, of course. It’s highly unlikely that anyone from Zeta Reticuli, eg, is visiting us.
Given Trumps election – I suspect the US may have an alien in the White House?
One of the pithier responses I’ve seen to the recent alleged evidence of alien spaceships buzzing us – such as the Harry Reid-sponsored military files cited in this silly Renee Parsons piece – noted that despite the orders of magnitude increase between the first UFO craze in the 1950s and today in the number of sensors worldwide (cameras, radar) that are or can be pointed at the sky, the proof that “they are out there” consists of the same small number of dubious photos (“Is that a hypermaneuverable craft from another world, or is there just some schmutz on the lens?”) now as then.
So, in other words, if you’re unwilling to accept these “sightings” as artifacts of human perception, psychology, and culture, then the only other explanation is that E.T. is deliberately trolling us by making his (or her!) starships more elusive over time, proportionate to the increase in human ability to document them. Those little green bastards!
Cf Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, inter alia.
F.G. Not to nit pick, but the veteranstoday article was authored by Preston James, Ph.D. I might add that Preston in other articles has thrown me for a loop, and I agree it’s spaceballs crazy when these people show up.
I had high hopes along time ago for the History Channel, but after pawn shopping, and UFO shows took over, I loss all hope to learn anything of real value about such things in history as the Holy Roman Empire, or anything about anything.
Like I said below I keep away from forming any real opinion about UFO’s, because I don’t really get into discussing them in any real serious way. And even though I know better to their evidence less existence I will tell you that once at a quick stop somewhere around Youngstown in the candy aisle I saw what had to be space aliens. I would tell you about the other time, but after being beamed up and injected with some pink slime I dare not say…. the one alien who had abducted me looked a lot like Clapper, and his boss looked strikingly like John Brennan, and then there was Toto, and, well you get the picture, right? After that harrowing experience I quit eating ice cream before bedtime.
Somebody gotta make a somebody laugh.
Joe, that happened to me one time too. I was in this bar in McKees Rocks, and…well, you get the picture. Always great to get your “take” on the situation!
I know the place very well F.G., wasn’t it right before you turn right to go across the bridge to Neville Island? I think so, but you know those aliens all moved out to Moon Twp., and now nothing in the West Hills of Pittsburgh is but the same. Then there are those old left over Steeler fans, who started tailgating on Saturday night before the game, but since that has nothing to do with anything of what we are talking about, I will quit.
Once again I’m glad to have you commenting on this board, your entertaining, and extremely insightful to boot. Joe
Twilight Zone (rererereruns) the other night did the one with the bus passengers in the diner who can’t continue until some bridge gets repaired. Eventually they leave based on false information and wind up tragically. One person stayed in the diner and he turns out to be an alien from Venus (lights his cigarette with extra arms) who decides earth is ready to be invaded and his forces are on the way. He says this to the guy behind the diner counter, just to let him know he is about to be done in. However, the guy behind the counter is another alien (pulls back his cap to show a third eye in the middle of his forehead) and informs the Venusian that he himself is from Mars and that Mars has already intercepted the force from Venus. Mars is going to invade instead.
Or, there is always Abbott and Costello winding up in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, thinking they are on another planet, and then actually wind up on Venus filled with beautiful women.
My God, Joe, I hope you weren’t ‘probed’ by Clapper in his space ship! Maybe Bolton was there as well ! Wow, no wonder people in America fear alien abduction.
Insomnia is a small price to pay to never having to experience that again. Thanks for your sympathies John. Joe
Intelligence agencies around the world exploit UFO beliefs for their own purposes. Cults do, too. Jacques Vallee documents in several of his books.
Cf Jacques Valee’s books
Trump’s SPACEFORCE! HOO-RA! Sounds like a corny B grade, straight to DVD, Hollywood sci-fi movie! And what’s the Pentagon name for this ridiculous scheme to militarise Space going to be, so Trump can make “Space Great Again” for America? Operation, Enduring Space Freedom! And since they have divided up the World into a big pie for US consumption, what will this be called? SPACEFORCECOM? God, how corny & laughable! America can’t even fly their own Astronauts into Space due to shoddy, overpriced NASA rockets being incapable of this, they have too rely on private companies like Space X or Russia’s Uber reliable rockets since the clapped out, Space Shuttles became mothballed? Please RUSSIA, can you fly our American SPACEFORCE TO OUTER SPACE so, you know, we can dominate Space? It’s not enough that we, the US of A can & must seek to dominate Planet Earth, we must also dominate the Heavens! For goodness sake that damn MIC & it’s bankrupt the Nation budget needs to be cut by $800 billion a year & instead of this ludicrous idea to set up another wing of the Military in Space, put that money to better use, ON EARTH, in your own Country to spend on, let’s see, free Healthcare, building infrastructure, social services for its citizens, housing & any of FDR’s new deal initiatives!
KiwiAntz —– —- just so you know … .
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a526044.pdf
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a053000fullspectrum#a053000fullspectrum
Hi MF, sorry for the “out there comment” but you’re got to look at the absurdity of this! And I appreciate the posted link, although I’ve already seen this but thanks anyway. Interesting how they always present this as a sort of PowerPoint display to make a ludicrous scheme seem logical & achievable! Sort of like the US Empire strikes back” against that dastardly Rebel alliance made up of China, Russia & Iran who wish to free themselves from the unipolar tyranny of that waning Empire! It’s the Rebels against Darth Trump & his Obligarchy SPACEFORCE stormtroopers! May the Spaceforce be with you!
“Please RUSSIA, can you fly our American SPACEFORCE TO OUTER SPACE so, you know, we can dominate Space?”
Ikr?!
I’m not a big supporter of the ISS, or staffed (gender-neutral for “manned”) space flight in general, but it’s embarrassing the extent to which the U.S. media has turned astronauts into non-persons ever since the Shuttle was retired: acknowledging Russian competence and collegiality in providing launch services to U.S. and international astronauts is simply out of the question, apparently.
Mining and manufacturing in outer space might be worthwhile endeavors, but militarizing space the better to cheat tax payers and bomb people is not worthwhile.
So, let me get this straight: according to Renee Parsons, the low-orbit space junk problem cited by Trump as a rationale for his Space Force is a fig leaf – not for the militarist ambitions of a sub-clique of national security fanatics and the M.I. contractors who hope to profit by them, as some of us might have thought – but for the actual motivation: space aliens! (about whom evidently Donald Trump has been briefed, but is too disciplined to spill the beans on – because that’s the kind of guy he is)
Ok, I did not see where this one was headed!
Personally, I’ll take flying saucers over “anti-Stratfordian” Shakespeare conspiracists, which is another murky puddle Consortium News dipped its toe into a couple of years back. However, before they run any more of these, I suggest that the CN eds consider how this kind of thing reflects on the credibility of the writers who publish serious pieces here, many of the best of which dissent from the stifling corporate news consensus, whose guardians would be all too glad to lump critics of Russia-gate and other MSM fictions in with UFO afficianadoes.
(In contrast, Renee Parsons is dismissive of the real, existing problem of space junk, which left unaddressed could indeed potentially make parts of Earth’s orbital space unusable – though I’m not validating a militarized, “national security” perspective on the issue.)
“existing problem of space junk”??? Compare with junk, large part of it mobile, on nation’s highways, millions of pieces that kill thousands every year. Yet, the rest of traffic manages to get from A to B with a very good frequency — barring confusing GPS directions.
The latter is a potential problem. In the case of a conflict between major power it may be useful to inflict pain without direct mayhem, and shooting down geolocation satellites may be a perfect method.
But there is a myriad of potential problems. One identified problem are armies of trolls that threaten our democracy by sowing doubts, planting snide comments, phishing and what not. Where do all those trolls leave? According to some sources, under badly maintained bridges, so can we address this problem without a trillion or two for bridge maintenance?
See the movie “Trollhunter”.
Really Ms. Parsons, you would give unsubstantiated claims of UFO’s the color of believability, based on unsubstantiated and undocumented accounts? Steven Greer – REALLY?
I re-read your piece several times, that I might have missed a hint of skepticism, sarcasm, or incredulity in the latter half of the piece. But you clearly have adopted the attitude of uncritically reporting what you have heard. Astronauts, pilots, and military people, whether during their official duties or not, are just as subject to misinterpretation, projection, and mis-identification as any one else. Not to mention Steven Greer is a crank and a fraud.
Click bait on CN? Tell me it isn’t so. I can see the headlines now: “Trump’s Space Cadets Mistake Russian Military Satellites as UFO’s, Downing Several. US and Russian Forces on War Footing”
Because it’s just so John Wayne-ish to shoot first and ask questions later. “We come in pieces.”
I’m with you, vinnieoh.
On a lighter note, the best gloss on Trump’s speech I saw:
“The U.S. Space Force is going to build the biggest Death Star ever! And the Rebel Alliance is going to pay for it, believe me!”
And if the Rebel Alliance doesn’t stand for the anthem & bends the knee instead & don’t pay for the Spaceforce YOUR FIRED! FIRED! And get that Son OFF A B**TCH outta there! Ha ha you gotta laugh!
I agree vinnieoh, a site such as the Consortium better be careful we don’t all get tarred and feathered with our being crazy UFO conspiracy nutcases. I personally stay away from the UFO craze, since my being a skeptic on the JFK, MLK, RFK, Malcom X, and 911 official narratives is well known among family and friends, that I wouldn’t want to be accused of my being a UFO believer to add to people’s skepticism of me. I mean the evidence for this UFO belief is hard to compile, and always without the hard evidence needed to confirm such sightings. I could be wrong about this, because I don’t follow the UFO stories that are out there, due to my concern over what seems to be more pressing matters. I guess in short I’m protecting my own credibility for what that’s worth. I would imagine that there are many others on this board who are of the same opinion to our avoiding being sucked into a UFO conspiracy tale. There again. it’s only an article, and a good one I might add, so I will just relax and allow the already established credibility of Consortium News to take it over from there. Joe
For some reason that I haven’t identified yet I keep losing my internet connection in the late afternoon, and don’t get it back until the next day. Anyhow…
I’m a rational skeptic and a 30yr subscriber to “The Skeptical Inquirer,” the publication of the Center for Scientific Inquiry (CSI,) formerly known as the Center for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). The scientific community and the ancillary skeptical community does not deny the possibility of other sentient beings in the universe or in this galaxy. Indeed, serious cosmologists have formulated, based on what we can reliably guess about the universe, the probabilities of other sentient life. The problem is, almost all claims of sightings or contact, upon thorough investigation have no credibility, and the belief that the US say, has a wealth of ET technology that they’re secretly hoarding is preposterous. If the US ( or any other major power nation) had such in their possession they would capitalize on it post-haste.
The composition of this article is unfortunate. The author introduced the fringe specter of alien visitation into a moment that is really about the ominous weaponization of our near space. As Mild – Ly Facetious points out – with documentary references – this is an effort and a desire of long standing to those that wish to continue US military superiority and dominance. The clock is ticking on the human race, and this effort will hasten our rush to an epic fail.
I hear you vinnieoh, and I appreciate your explaining to me what you have learned regarding space aliens, and there existence being believable. You are the educator who taught me something new today…thanks!
I do believe that as big as the universe is, that it is probable and true that there is life out there somewhere, but like to how you pointed it out that our exposing anything of real hard value, is another story lacking of any new found definitive proof. How many times in the past have I been suckered into watching a UFO show on the History Channel, and to how many times have I watched these shows to their end, and yet there is nothing of any real tangible proof to confirm that there was a UFO sighted somewhere. Nothing of any real value was to reveal that a UFO of any kind could have visited us here on earth, and with that so goes the news of UFO’s.
The author probably should have left the UFO part out, if we put his article into the context you referenced. So thanks vinnieoh, for pointing this flaw out to us naïve UFO followers. Joe
Yes vinnieoh, I too read the ‘The Skeptical Inquirer’. I think its one of the sources that gives good basic hard facts, which is a minimum starting point when determining where I want to spend my time/energy. Occasionally some of it’s sources tend to be a little authoritarian/militaristic types (not surprisingly, in our dominant MIC culture) though, so I have to factor that into their contributions and discount their analysis to various degrees because of it.
After reading their accounts of UFO’s and even the late Carl Sagan’s statements on the subject (ie; paraphrasing — ‘statistically speaking, there is undoubtedly extraterrestrial life somewhere in our 14+ billion-year old universe, but conversely there is no credible evidence that it has ever visited the Earth’) as well as others, I too don’t believe that there is any credible evidence that we’ve ever been visited by ET’s. (One thing that always puzzles me in this whole purported ‘alien visits’ is why the aliens — who would presumably have VASTLY superior technology that would also include weaponry, since they’d obviously mastered the HUGE problems of interstellar space travel — would choose to land in the remote wildernesses or some farmers field, instead of on the lawn of the White House or Kremlin, ala’ something like the saucer in the ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’? Think of the numerous historical invasions by cultures with more advanced weaponry versus primitive indigenous cultures — the invaders will often just stride into the capital, quickly crush whatever rebellions might pop-up, and then do whatever they want. They didn’t hide in the outskirts of the city, studying the population for decades, making brief, secretive forays into unpopulated sections of the city and never revealing themselves unequivocally.)
It’s interesting to bring up the subject of UFOs, but these proposals seem consistent with Trump’s other public attitudes towards the military. There’s been enough belligerence and nationalism along with what appears to be a frighteningly stubborn ignorance to make one not have to scratch one’s head and look for esoteric explanations.
The Space Force has been a USAF ambition since well before Y2K.Trump is the nascent “Merlin” (the magician) willing to fund this ‘Star Wars’ type of churlish impudence in his neurotic/psychotic delusion of himself as the “GREAT WORLD LEADER” of all time.. .
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Joint Vision 2020
America’s Military— Preparing for Tomorrow
?Summer 2000 / JFQ 57
documentation
Report Documentation Page
Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188
1. REPORT DATE
2000
2. REPORT TYPE
3. DATES COVERED
00-00-2000 to 00-00-2000
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
Joint Vision 2020. America’s Military – Preparing for Tomorrow
Approved for public release; distribution unlimited
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a526044.pdf
FYI :
May 30, 2000: US Military Blueprint Calls for ‘Full-Spectrum Dominance’ of Entire World
A Joint Vision graphic.
A Joint Vision graphic. [Source: US Defense Department] (click image to enlarge)
The US Defense Department publishes its new long-term blueprint for the future, entitled “Joint Vision 2020.” As a Defense Department press release points out, “‘Full-spectrum dominance’ is the key term” in the plan. “Full-spectrum dominance means the ability of US forces, operating alone or with allies, to defeat any adversary and control any situation across the range of military operations.” [AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE, 6/2/2000] The term comes from US Space Command’s “Vision for 2020” in 1998, which spoke of “dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment.” Author Peter Dale Scott will later note this represents an important shift from a policy of containing or rolling back the Soviet Union to “full-spectrum dominance of the globe” in order to achieve “global economic integration on American terms, [including] the opening of foreign markets to US investment.” [SCOTT, 2007, PP. 19-20] Scott will also note that the similarity between this blueprint and a report published by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) think tank several months later “was not coincidental,” since it was built on a 1992 draft report written by some of the same people involved in the PNAC report, such as Paul Wolfowitz and I. Lewis Libby. The PNAC report calls itself a “blueprint” for the “creation of a ‘global Pax Americana’” (see September 2000). [SCOTT, 2007, PP. 24]
Entity Tags: Project for the New American Century, Peter Dale Scott, US Department of Defense, US Space Command
September 2000: Neoconservative Think Tank Writes ‘Blueprint’ for ‘Global Pax Americana’Edit event
People involved in the 2000 PNAC report (from top left): Vice
President Cheney, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld,
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis
Libby, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, Undersecretary of Defense Dov
Zakheim, and author Eliot Cohen.
People involved in the 2000 PNAC report (from top left): Vice President Cheney, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim, and author Eliot Cohen. [Source: Public domain]
The neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century writes a “blueprint” for the “creation of a ‘global Pax Americana’”
(see June 3, 1997). The document, titled Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century, was written for the George W. Bush team even before the 2000 presidential election.
Plans to Overthrow Iraqi Government – The report calls itself a “blueprint for maintaining global US preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests.” The plan shows that the Bush team intends to take military control of Persian Gulf oil whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power and should retain control of the region even if there is no threat. It says: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.” The report calls for the control of space through a new “US Space Forces,” the political control of the internet, the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates “regime change” in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran and other countries. It also mentions that “advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool” (see February 7, 2003).
[PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY, 9/2000 pdf file; SUNDAY HERALD (GLASGOW), 9/7/2002]
Greater Need for US Role in Persian Gulf – PNAC states further: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”
‘US Space Forces,’ Control of Internet, Subversion of Allies – PNAC calls for the control of space through a new “US Space Forces,” the political control of the Internet, and the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates “regime change” in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran, and other countries.
Bioweapons Targeting Specific Genotypes ‘Useful’ – It also mentions that “advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target” specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.”
‘A New Pearl Harbor’ – However, PNAC complains that thes changes are likely to take a long time, “absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1/12/2003]
Just one month before, the Project for a New American Century released a position paper that went completely unnoticed by the media at the time (see September 2000).
Many future Bush administration officials, including Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz are involved with the paper. It articulates a bold new policy to establish a more forceful US military presence in the Middle East. Regarding Iraq, it states, “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.” [SALON, 3/15/2004]
From Bush’s first cabinet meeting in January 2001, the focus will be on getting rid of Hussein. Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill will later recall, “From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go… From the very first instance, it was about Iraq. It was about what we can do to change this regime. Day one, these things were laid and sealed” (see January 30, 2001). Cheney similarly misstates his true foreign policy intentions. In an NBC interview during the 2000 presidential campaign, Cheney defends Bush’s position of maintaining Clinton’s policy not to attack Iraq, asserting that the US should not act as though “we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments.”
January 7, 2001: Rumsfeld Report Echoes ‘New Pearl Harbor’ Language
Donald Rumsfeld publishes a report as chairperson of the Rumsfeld Commission that makes proposals for the US Space Command.
Rumsfeld is in the process of becoming defense secretary for the incoming Bush administration. His commission’s report says with respect to attacks in space: “The question is whether the US will be wise enough to act responsibly and soon enough to reduce US space vulnerabilities. Or whether, as in the past, a disabling attack against the country and its people—a ‘Space Pearl Harbor’—will be the only event able to galvanize the nation and cause the US government to act.” Author Peter Dale Scott will later note the similarity between this language and that of a Project for the New American Century (PNAC) think tank report published several months before, signed by Rumsfeld and others, that warned of impediments to overhauling the US military “absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor” (see September 2000). Scott will comment that such quotes indicate that the US oil industry and military had achieved a quiet consensus by this time that “America would need full-spectrum dominance to guarantee access to oil and other resources in the rest of the world. This program would require massive expenditures, perhaps as much as a trillion dollars, and this could not be expected from Congress—except in response to an attack as massive and frightening as Pearl Harbor.” [SCOTT, 2007, PP. 24]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, US Space Command, Peter Dale Scott
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
http://www.historycommons.org/
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a053000fullspectrum#a053000fullspectrum
Didn’t Ronald Reagan try this with his Star Wars satellite missile defence system? The US tried to implement this, however it proved to be problematic, unattainable & horrifically expensive to the point of bankrupting the Nation if it was ever put in place for dubious, unproven benefits! So it was tossed into the “to hard basket” with other failed & stupid policies!
Reagan got the idea from Lyndon Larouche. ‘Nuff said.
If by any grace of good luck, and our planet isn’t reduced to an ash after a nuclear halocaust, it would be wonderful for if all nations of the world would end all war, as then we could unite all these peaceful nations to explore our orbital mysterious space. This should be our Star Trek time, and yet we humans are in the process of further extending our destructive nature. Think about this, we humans with all our intellectualism and creative talents, and what do we do, we arm up to go to space, and arm up against each other I might add.
Trump should create a Space Force Regiment, and this Regiment could join in with other foreign regiments, and start a United Planet Earth Exploration Force…. not Military, but scientific in it’s mission.
These people we have running the show are to into war too much. Their hubris is beyond reprehensible, and besides that their going to get us all killed.
Space could be where mankind unites.
Phil Giraldi has it right.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/space-command-is-about-to-launch/5645505
Trump better hurry up and build these new Apace Force launching pads before the U.S. Fiat Currency collapses under the weight of foreign investment withdrawals. In fact, when that happens the U.S. will be hard pressed to maintain the presence it already has in outer space. In any respect the maturity of this new Space Force must be questioned entirely on America’s ability to pay for it, and that’s where all things American will eventually come undone.
Here when the Russians propose the limiting or banning of weapons in space the U.S. rejects that notion.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/06/26/us-create-sixth-branch-its-armed-forces.html
@Joe, were you aware that the ‘Star Trek time’ didn’t begin until the ashes of WWWIII were settled? Some would say that what we see in movies & tv is already possible and just the tip of the iceberg.
Kenny thanks for your highly logical mind, and for telling me that about Star Trek. I first caught Star Trek when I was in the Navy, and back then when we did our laundry and bought beer out of a beer vending machine, we sailors watched Star Trek reruns. Seriously, I didn’t know that the Enterprise was launched after WWIII….yikes.
So maybe my reference needs to be modified a bit, like without the WWIII part being necessary. In any regard thanks Kenny for the proper information…. hope to see you someday beyond the frontiers of space. Live Long and Prosper Joe
A “moral equivalent of war” is not a bad idea, but I fear Trump’s Space Force would be more like _Starship Troopers_, if more racist.
For some reason I have it in the back of my head that there’s a treaty banning weapons in space……
The 1967 Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, to which the US is a party, only bans weapons of mass destruction in space, not conventional weapons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
Thanx. Now I know. I will point out that Heinlein in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress has the colonists fighting the earth by throwing rocks at it. Filling carrier vehicles that would normally have grain raised on the moon with rocks and instead of aiming them at the Indian ocean, aiming them wherever they wanted to hit and not slowing them down for a soft hit. While there are a few technical issues to his idea, the chief being would the maglev system they are using to launch the grain vessels be capable of launching the added mass of the rocks, his point that the amount of energy released by a few tons of rocks traveling at terminal velocity would be pretty indistinguishable from a nuclear explosion is well taken.
Heinlein’s moon colonists threw nukes, not rocks. At least that was how I read it.
Heinlein was a lot smarter than Trump, even if he was a Libertarian.
We already have a Space Force in everything except name (unique parameters, goals, budget, programs, staff, deliverables). The US, China and Russia are currently in a space race with hypersonic kinetic weapons, much like Heinlein’s moon rocks (a guided tungsten steel phone pole) traveling at Mach 10 and impacting with the force of an asteroid. All of the BOOM and none of the radiation or taboo of nuc’s. SALT II (1979) prohibited WMD in space but not conventional weapons. I’m sure those PNAC Neocons and their offspring would argue that Rods from God and Project Thor are not WMD because they are inert. Modern war theorists claim this class of weapons gives us options beyond going nuclear.
Practical application? The fun conspiracy folks factlessly posit that the Oct 10, 2017 nuclear testing tunnel collapse in NoKo that killed over 200 scientists, techs and workers was a Rods from God demo (with permission from China). This isn’t your father’s underground bunker buster – beware Iran!
Regarding the proposed (existing) Space Force, Trump loves to create chaos as an environment for getting things done HIS way. I see Trump’s announcement of a separate Space Force as a challenge to existing branches of the Military that if you don’t do it the Trump Way he will take away your existing fat space budget. Trump did a similar chaos move to save $ on Air Force 1 redesign. Then he did it again to save $ on the F-35 contract. I think he’s calling for a Space Force because he didn’t like the price tag for his new toy.
Trump did it for the Wollman Ice Rink renovation in NY and now he’s doing it to the DoD.
the Bush administration invested some time and money in looking towards throwing titanium rods at targets on earth from a underground base on the moon. apparently this sort of projectile was thought to be a way to “bust bunkers” on earth