CNBC reports: “Trump floats the idea of creating a ‘Space Force’ to fight wars in space.” Said Trump: “Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea.”

BRUCE GAGNON, globalnet at mindspring.com
Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. He said today: “The aerospace industry sees an opportunity to expand their profit capability by the creation of a new ‘Space Force’ that would direct the expanding U.S. war-making program in space. The industry has been pushing Congress to authorize this new separate service while the leadership of the Air Force have opposed the plan claiming that it would increase inefficiency and bureaucracy. In the recent NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] it was mandated that the Air Force increase their focus on space and make it a higher priority.

“Space News reported in January that Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson notified the congressional armed services committees of a new plan to create a three-star position that would directly support U.S. Space Command. The post would be ‘vice commander of Air Force Space Command,’ and would be based in Washington — not in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Air Force Space Command is headquartered. Some lawmakers remain doubtful that the Air Force is ‘culturally’ able to focus on space as much as it does on air operations. The growing power of the aerospace industry inside Washington indicates that their demand for a separate service to control the Pentagon’s space operations is bearing some fruit. This concession by the Air Force is one step closer to expanding military space activities — all of which will give massive profits to the aerospace industry.

“Last year a bill to create a separate ‘Space Force’ passed the House but failed to be approved by the Senate. Trump’s endorsement of the ‘Space Force’ concept indicates that the aerospace industry has found a strong ally in the White House and the pressure on the Senate to approve the plan will now increase dramatically.

“Whether a separate ‘Space Force’ is created or not, the U.S. is spending massive amounts of public funds to create a new arms race in space. Since Bill Clinton’s administration, Washington has continually refused to negotiate a treaty to ban weapons in space with China and Russia. Instead the U.S. pulled out of the ABM Treaty in 2002, and since then has been deploying so-called ‘missile defense’ systems on land and at sea, beginning an encirclement of China and Russia with these technologies that are key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning. As a result, China and Russia have maintained for years that they cannot afford to reduce their nuclear retaliatory capabilities, thus killing any hopes for further nuclear disarmament agreements.”

Gagnon has been on a 30-day hunger strike protesting a corporate welfare bill for General Dynamics in Maine where he lives.