Air Force Staff Sgt. Rhyan Acey performs maintenance on the AN-TSQ-180 Milstar Communications Vehicle July 28, 2021 at the 233rd Space Group, Greeley Air National Guard Station, Greeley, Colorado. (US Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Amanda Geiger)
WASHINGTON — A group of 51 National Guard adjutant generals are asking President Joe Biden to support the creation of a separate Space National Guard (SNG) — urging him to reverse a decision by the Office of Management and Budget that would establish an alternative structure.
OMB “opposes a SNG and recently directed the Department of Defense (DoD) to prepare for the voluntary transfer of National Guard members currently performing space missions to a yet-to-be-established ‘Space Component.’ OMB’s actions are a mistake,” argues the letter [PDF], released today by the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) and addressed directly to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the National Space Council.
The debate about the question of a Space Guard has been fierce since the establishment of the Space Force in 2019. After more than a year of dithering, the Biden administration in 2021 rejected the idea due largely to cost concerns, with OMB finding that creation of a separate Guard branch for space would cost up to $500 million annually and provide no new capabilities. Instead, the Space Force has proposed transferring Air Force Reserve space specialists to a new “hybrid Space Component,” which would include both full-time and part-time Guardians.
Advocates of a dedicated Space National Guard within the National Guard, and on Capitol Hill, have been vociferously fighting back.
For example, the House versions of the 2022 and 2023 defense authorization bills both included support for the SNG, but the language was stripped in the House-Senate conference process both years.
Nonetheless, on Feb. 16, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., re-introduced legislation, the Space National Guard Establishment Act, to create an SNG — with eight co-sponsors from both parties. On the House side, Colorado Democrat Rep. Jason Crow and Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn — who chairs the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee responsible for overseeing Pentagon space policy and programs — also are planning to reintroduce a Space Guard bill, according to a report in Politico.
For their part, the Guard leaders, representing all 50 states plus the US Virgin Islands, assert that OMB’s financial calculations are simply wrong.
“The National Guard Bureau (NGB) estimates the one-time cost to be $250,000 for heraldry, uniform items, and the transfer of existing manpower and resources from [Air National Guard] Space units to the new SNG. This cost is dwarfed by the estimated one-time cost of over $644M to move all ANG Space missions to the U.S. Space Force (USSF),” the letter says.
Further, they argue that the Space Component plan will harm Space Force readiness.
“OMB’s opposition to establishing a SNG and directive to transfer current National Guard space missions to an unestablished ‘Space Component’ will create a 7–10 year gap in the capabilities Air National Guard Space Units provide today. Our nation cannot afford to hamstring the readiness of its Space Operations in the decisive decade ahead,” the letter states.