Space Force reframes mission to ‘secure’ US interests ‘in, from and to’ space

WASHINGTON — In a new “Commander’s Note” to Guardians today, Space Force chief Gen. Chance Saltzman revealed a snappy new “mission statement” for the service that implies a broad mandate for future warfighting: “secure our Nation’s interests in, from, and to space.”

In his 16th “C-Note,” obtained by Breaking Defense, Saltzman explains that while the Space Force doesn’t get to determine its actual mission — that is the job of the president and Congress — it does get to choose “the words we use to describe the mission.”

Saltzman further took the time to explain some of the rational for words chosen.

“In military parlance, the verb secure has a specific and commonly understood meaning: to gain control over an objective, with or without force, and thereby prevent its use or destruction by a hostile entity. As I outlined in C-Note #8, the formative purpose of our service is to contest and control the space domain. Secure encapsulates our charge to contest and, when directed, control the space domain on behalf of the Joint Force,” he wrote (emphasis in original).

“The phrase in, from, and to space is a direct reference to the core functions of the Space Force. Guardians secure our Nation’s interests in space through space superiority activities that protect the Joint Force and the Nation from space and counterspace threats,” he added. “Guardians secure our Nation’s interests from space by delivering global mission operations like SATCOM [satellite communications], PNT [positioning, navigation and timing], and MW [missile warning]. And Guardians secure the Nation’s interests to space by assured space access through the Space Force’s launch, range, and control network infrastructure.”

(In a June 23 C-Note, Saltzman promoted a “shift in mindset” about the meaning of “space superiority” to ensure that it is understood to encompass defending the Joint Force “from space-enabled attack” rather than just protecting systems in space.)

Finally, Saltzman’s latest missive calls upon Guardians to use the new mission statement to “educate and inform our sister service members, the American public, and our allies and partners” on the Space Force’s role.

Saltzman’s use of the phrase “in, from and to space,” whether intentional or not, carries with it no small amount of political baggage, echoing the October 2006 National Space Strategy signed by President George W. Bush. At the time, the strategy, which used similar language, was highly controversial, in large part due to its implicit endorsement of the use of space-based weapons. (Indeed, the Pentagon during Bush’s tenure budgeted research and development dollars to study several types of space-based weapons.)

The Defense Department and the Space Force, however, continue to be coy about even the use of the word “weapons” in speaking or writing about plans for countering adversary space systems, must less about weapons actually placed on orbit — even if the secretary of the Air Force has occasionally referred to “hard kill” capabilities in the heavens.