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The presidents of the National Guard Association of the United States and the Adjutants General Association of the United States have asked President Donald Trump 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 Guard leaders believe would come at a high 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 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 high cost 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 likely 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.
Potentially 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 Department of the Air Force report to Congress produced by the first Trump administration but not sent until March 2021 makes many of the same points outlined in the letter.
—By John Goheen
