The Congressional Research Service recently weighed in on the issue of the creation of a space force, citing four options that either the president or Congress could implement to establish a military unit dedicated to operations in space.
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The CRS said in the August 16 edition of its “In Focus” publication that a space force could be set up within any of the existing U.S. military service branches, namely the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps or Navy, by means of an internal reorganization.
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Another option involves the creation of a new unified combatant command, which could either stand on its own or be subordinated to any of the existing COCOMs, the Congressional think tank reported, pointing to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act as an example of the latter.
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The defense authorization bill contains a provision calling for the establishment of a U.S. Space Command under the U.S. Strategic Command.
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Alternatively, the space force could be set up as a new service branch under any of the three military departments, namely the Department of the Army, Navy or Air Force; or it could be set up as a new military department altogether, the CRS noted.
