Space Force is the Sixth Branch of U.S. Armed Forces, Will Transform National Security

VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: The United States must always remain vigilant against new threats to our security

VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Time and again throughout our history, the armed forces of the United States have proven to be the greatest force for good in the history of the world.

Time and again throughout our history, the armed forces of the United States have proven to be the greatest force for good in the history of the world.

Every day, millions of heroes get up to stand their post and defend the American people from harm — whether by land, sea, or air.

Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, the strongest military in the world has grown stronger still.

The president has signed into law the largest increase in the national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan, including the largest pay raise for our troops in more than 10 years.

As President Trump has said, “Our active-duty personnel are now the best-equipped, best-trained, and most technologically advanced fighting force in the history of the world.”

But even with our incredible military might, the United States must always remain vigilant against new threats to our security.

That includes threats posed by new technologies. Today our adversaries and rivals have developed capabilities like ground-based lasers, radio frequency jammers, hypersonic missiles, and anti-satellite missiles — weapons that increasingly enable them to do us harm from outer space.

As our NATO allies have acknowledged, space can now become a theater of war. And as technologies continue to advance, outer space will only become more critical to our national security.

But in the face of these new challenges, the United States is rising to meet them under the leadership of President Donald Trump.

Last June, President Donald Trump became the first president in American history to publicly call for a Space Force as a sixth branch of our armed forces.

Last June, President Trump became the first president in American history to publicly call for a Space Force as a sixth branch of our armed forces.

As the President said, America must reclaim our “heritage as the world’s greatest space-faring nation…Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security.”

The president is exactly right. Our freedom to operate safely in outer space is critical for our way of life. Modern communications, commerce, weather forecasting, and even agriculture depend in large part on the security of our assets in space.

That is why leaders from both political parties and both houses of Congress have come to agree with President Trump that the time has come to create a U.S. Space Force.

At the President’s direction, the Pentagon worked with leaders in Congress to develop legislation for a Space Force, which will be the first new American military service established since 1947.

The Space Force will have a transformational impact on our national security. It will make our space systems and those of our allies more resilient.

It will deter our enemies from doing us harm. And it will make America and the world safer.

This achievement by President Donald Trump is not only historic; it’s completely bipartisan. As Chairman of the National Space Council, I’ve worked closely with the president and with both parties in Congress to see the President’s vision become a reality.

At a time when Washington, D.C., is consumed with political distractions, the American people can be proud that leaders from
across America rallied around the president’s vision: from Republicans like Sens. Jim Inhofe and Kevin Cramer, Reps. Mac Thornberry and Mike Rogers; to Democrats like Sen. Jack Reed and Reps. Adam Smith and Jim Cooper.

Time and again throughout our history, the armed forces of the United States have proven to be the greatest force for good in the history of the world.

The American people can rest assured that with the creation of the Space Force, the Armed Forces of the United States will grow even stronger under this commander in chief and the power and dominance that our armed forces enjoy on land, sea, and air will now extend to outer space.

Thanks to President Donald Trump, America is leading again in space. The new Space Force will ensure our heroes in uniform can better keep us safe and America can lead like never before.

Mike Pence is the Vice President of the United States and chairman of the National Space Council.

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With the Stroke of a Pen, U.S. Space Force Becomes the Sixth Branch of the U.S. Military