DEFENSE/MIKE PENCE/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Vice President Pence promoted a proposed Space Command on Thursday [8-9-18] as ‘an idea whose time has come’ in comments at the Pentagon to unveil a few more details about President Trump’s plan to create another military force, this one for outer space, and to be in operation by 2020. Mr. Trump’s space dreams still have to go through a divided Congress to come true, but initially reluctant Pentagon officials have lined up behind the proposal and now say that they will do what they can to bring it to fruition. Mr. Trump, for his part, tweeted on Thursday: ‘Space Force All the Way!’ But that may be a tall order. The administration cannot just create a Space Force on its own; it has to go through Congress, where critics abound. Even Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was once a critic. In a letter last year when Congress was considering a space corps, Mr. Mattis said he did not want to add ‘additional organizational and administrative tail’ to the military. He said a space corps ‘would likely present a narrower and even more parochial approach to space operations.’”
–Helene Cooper, “Pence Advances Plan to Create a Space Force,” The New York Times online, August 9, 2018