HASC Chair Rogers: Five Years On, the Space Force Needs to Grow

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), who was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Space Force five years ago, thinks it is time for the new military service to grow. In the beginning, the mantra was that it would be a small, lean organization, but much has changed. More personnel, with the right skill sets, along with continued acquisition reform are needed to meet the growing threat.

Rogers currently chairs the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), but back in 2017 he chaired HASC’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Together with subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Cooper (D-TN), they initiated the effort that led to the creation of the U.S. Space Force (USSF), which celebrated its 5th birthday on December 20.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held a day-long symposium on December 17 where Rogers, Cooper and others who were deeply involved shared fascinating insider stories of the birth of the country’s first new military service since the Air Force was established in 1947.

The concept of a Space Corps originated in the 2001 Rumsfeld Commission Report, but nothing came of it until Rogers and Cooper teamed together in 2017. As in the Rumsfeld report, they envisioned a Space Corps, akin to the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy and the Space Corps would be part of the Department of the Air Force, but with a separate budget and leadership.

The new service was named Space Force instead of Space Corps, however, at the direction of then-President Trump who played a pivotal role by overruling opposition by the top leadership of DOD and the Air Force. Trump actually wanted not just a new military service, but an entirely new Department parallel to the Department of the Air Force (DAF), Department of the Navy, and Department of the Army.

In the end, the decision was to keep the USSF as part of the DAF. Comparing standing up the service to a Christmas tree, Rogers pointed out that first you have to stand the tree up, then add the ornaments and so forth. He and Cooper wanted to keep the new service as part of the DAF “just for the economies” of it and to be “as least disruptive as possible.” Their arguments won the day in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Trump signed the NDAA into law on December 20, 2019 in a ceremony at Joint Base Andrews.

Asked if he thinks Trump will try anew to create a Department of the Space Force when he returns to the White House, Rogers said “I don’t see that happening in the near future.” Considering the size of the Space Force, “it’s fine where it is” for now and they can reconsider in the future if it ever becomes a problem.  In his signature speech at the 2017 Space Symposium, Rogers himself suggested a Space Force as a separate department.

Congress will be a “partner” with the USSF as it confronts increasing challenges from China, “providing the policies and resources to ensure the U.S. is leading and strengthening our posture in space,” and helping it grow.

“I’ll be blunt — the Space Force needs to grow.

“When we stood up the service, we called for a small, agile force. At that time, the focus was to get them on their feet and running. We addressed issues like having their own budget, personnel, and promotion structure.

“We have come a long way from those early tasks. But now, it’s time for us to increase the size of the force to meet the growing threats. This increase needs to include both enlisted and civilian guardians as well as junior officers and general officers.

“I know some of my friends in Congress are violently opposed to any growth as just increasing overhead. But if we want to have a Space Force capable of doing what the nation expects, it has to have enough people, and the right people to carry out its mission.”  – Mike Rogers

It’s not just a matter of getting more people, but the right mix of skills. “Operators, acquisition, intel, and cyber professionals must all be on equal footing.”

More money is needed, too.  Protecting and defending U.S. interests in, to, and from space is “no small task” and “this growth in mission must come with a growth in budget.” Continuing changes to acquisition and further leveraging the commercial sector are also critical.

As he has many times, Rogers again called on the Executive Branch to declassify as much information as possible “so that the public better understands the threats and the investments we need to make to mitigate them.”

Looking to the future, Rogers praised the work of the current head of the USSF, Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, in developing the concept of “competitive endurance,” especially the need to conduct “responsible counterspace campaigning” to “disrupt or deny an adversary’s space-based targeting.”

“We have to maximize our asymmetric advantages to ensure America’s continued space superiority.

“We cannot stand still.” — Mike Rogers

The U.S. Space Force is often confused for U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM).  The Space Force is one of the six military services, along with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, that “organize, train and equip” personnel. USSPACECOM is one the 11 Unified Combatant Commands that provide operational instructions and command and control of the armed forces. Military personnel are assigned to the Combatant Commands as needed. USSPACECOM was reestablished by Trump in August 2019 after a 17-year hiatus. Initially Gen. John “Jay” Raymond was dual-hatted as Chief of Space Operations (CSO) at USSF and Commander of USSPACECOM, adding to the confusion until Gen. James Dickinson took over as USSPACECOM Commander in August 2020.