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WASHINGTON (July 8, 2025) — The presidents of the National Guard Association of the United States and the Adjutants General Association of the United States have written to President Donald J. Trump, asking him to reaffirm his campaign pledge to establish a Space National Guard.
The two associations sent the appeal as U.S. Space Force officials rush to transfer Air National Guard space professionals and equipment to a single component Space Force, a move National Guard leaders believe would come at enormous cost to the nation.
“We respectfully request your leadership in halting the implementation of policies initiated by the previous administration and reaffirming your commitment to establishing a Space National Guard as the reserve component of the U.S. Space Force,” retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, and Maj. Gen. Francis J. Evon Jr., the AGAUS president, wrote in a June 20 letter.
The letter is available here.
The AGAUS is an association of the senior general in each of the 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and District of Columbia.
Trump pledged to create a Space National Guard during a nationally televised speech to the annual NGAUS general conference last summer in Detroit.
“Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the combat reserve of the Space Force,” Trump said. “As president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard.”
NGAUS and AGAUS detailed the enormous costs of the Space Force’s rush to absorb Air National Guard space professionals.
The Air National Guard has hundreds of the most skilled and experienced space professionals in the U.S. military. They are the nucleus of units that provide 60% of the U.S. military’s offensive space electronic-warfare capability. Many also help train Space Force personnel.
But surveys indicate the vast majority would exercise their option and not leave the National Guard for the risks and unknowns to them and their families of the Space Force’s still-to-be-developed “single component” model.
That means the Space Force would lose the very capability it wants to absorb. The Space Force would then have to rebuild the hollowed units. The tab would be upwards of $1 billion, according to Pentagon figures.
More costly to the nation would be the time required. The Pentagon estimates it would be 7-10 years before the replacement units would attain the same level of proficiency as their predecessors. Meanwhile, the United States would experience a significant loss in capability while the nation’s adversaries are increasing their presence in space.
“In contrast,” the two Guard associations wrote, “creating a Space National Guard by realigning ANG space units under the Space Force would cost approximately $250,000, primarily for uniform and heraldry updates.”
A 2021 Department of the Air Force report to Congress makes many of the same points outlined in the letter, including the degradation in mission capability that would result from any attempt to transfer Air National Guard space professionals to the Space Force.
“They would volunteer to transfer to a SNG,” the report concludes.
The report is available here.
Reporters, Editors & Producers: Retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn is available for interviews or to appear as a subject matter expert on issues related to the National Guard. Contact Jennifer Hickey at 202-253-7499 to schedule an interview.
About NGAUS: The association includes more than 40,000 current or former Guard officers. It was created in 1878 to provide unified National Guard representation in Washington. In their first productive meeting after Reconstruction, militia officers from the North and South formed the association with the goal of obtaining better equipment and training by educating Congress on Guard requirements. Today, 147 years later, NGAUS has the same mission.
