The National Reconnaissance Office has "grown and evolved and recognized, just as well as we have, that they have responsibilities that are not traditional" with regard to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from satellites, said Space Force vice chief Gen. DT Thompson.
The "Venn diagram ... of civil, commercial, and national security is becoming more and more overlapped," said Chirag Parikh, executive secretary of the National Space Council.
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
The new Space Forces - Indo-Pacific component command is headed by Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, and comprises 21 Guardians embedded at US Indo-Pacific Command.
"If we want deterrence to be effective, it takes three things: 1. Capabilities 2. Credible threats in the mind of the adversary and 3. The will to communicate the first two," Chris Stone, Mitchell Institute fellow, told Breaking Defense.
After an analysis of literally thousands of options, Space Force's Gen. DT Thompson said, "in the end [there was] a consensus opinion inside the Department of Defense and the [Intelligence Community] on how we should proceed."
Not establishing a Space National Guard was "a mistake when Space Force was created," said Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., in announcing a proposed bill to "remedy that."
Do more with less: streamline workflows, reduce duplication, invest upfront to save long-term.
"We absolutely believe we will save money," said Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. DT Thompson. Other military departments are looking into a similar approach, another Space Force officer said.
SWAC is not duplicating the functions of the joint DoD-IC Space Security and Defense Program, argues Gen. DT Thompson.
"I think before you hand off the ball, let's make sure there won't be a fumble -- and the Space Force has a lot on it's plate right now," Rep. Jim Cooper says.
The JROC has tagged the Space Force "officially and formally as the integrator for all joint space requirements," says vice chief Gen. DT Thompson.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
"Comms, data relay, remote sensing, and even ISR and some other things -- [these] capabilities are increasingly available in the commercial market," Space Force deputy Lt. Gen. DT Thompson said today.
"The US doesn't go anywhere alone, we don't do it alone around the world, and we certainly don't do it alone in space," Lt. Gen. Nina M. Armagno, Space Force staff director said yesterday.
Instead of focusing on the pressing need to shore up vulnerabilities in current and near-term space capabilities, says one critic, Space Force and SPACECOM are "all off trying to train for how they're going to go fight a space war."
"Other areas we're looking for opportunities are also out in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, to develop new and different partnerships in space that we may not have enjoyed in other domains in the past," Gen. DT Thompson, vice chief of the Space Force, says.