re: Space Force and novel energy production sources / transit (Paradigm changing)

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Reagan Defense Forum

Barrett, Rogers consider declassifying secretive space programs

By: Nathan Strout 5 days ago

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SIMI VALLEY, California — The U.S. Air Force’s top civilian and a key member of Congress agreed Saturday on the need to declassify a large amount of information about America’s military space programs to both intimidate foes and encourage support among the public.

“Declassifying some of what is currently held in secure vaults would be a good idea,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said during a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “You would have to be careful about what we declassify, but there is much more classified than what needs to be.”

Fellow panelist Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said he met with the secretary earlier in the week to discuss that very issue, calling the information on space programs “overwhelmingly classified.”

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For Rogers, that overclassification is one of the reasons it’s been so difficult for him and others to build support both in the public and with other members of Congress for a Space Force, a sixth branch of the military under the Air Force uniquely focused on space as a war-fighting domain.

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Once Americans have access to that currently classified data, they will throw their support behind a Space Force, he concluded.

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Air Force General's Supporters Mount Campaign to Make Him Leader of Space Force

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8 Aug 2019 Military.com |
By Oriana Pawlyk

Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, who recently left his post as commander of Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, is expected to hang up his uniform soon. But former associates and other close to Kwast, a decorated fighter pilot, say he deserves one more assignment: four-star head of the U.S Space Force, a new branch of the military that Congress is poised to create in coming months. These supporters, including some former members of Kwast's staff, have quietly launched a campaign of persuasion, publishing a series of opinion pieces in recent days in a range of news outlets, including right-of-center political sites such as Breitbart and Newsmax. They argue Kwast, if not serving as chief of the Space Force, which would fall under the Department of the Air Force, should work directly for President Donald Trump to lead development of the new service.

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"To demonstrate that 'No good deed goes unpunished,' General Kwast was recently prematurely relieved from his command -- after only half of the usual tour for this important position responsible for educating and training future Air Force leaders," Cooper continued. "This opposition is prominent in the public discourse, reflecting hostile positions taken by then-Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson when the president first signaled his initiative."

Kwast's supporters say he was "blacklisted" for promotion, and his career essentially ended, because of his refusal to comply with a service-wide gag order regarding space issues. Air Force officials maintain his career came to a natural conclusion and that he wasn't relieved prematurely. Kwast himself wouldn't address the rumors when asked about them by Military.com.

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One of the op-eds was written by Frank Gaffney for Breitbart, another right-wing political news site. The former acting assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs under Reagan over the years has become a controversial figure, and his think tank, the Center for Security Policy, was labeled as an "extremist think tank" by organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, among others, for promoting anti-Muslim policy views, as well as outlandish statements including a claim that a Muslim Brotherhood "operative" directly worked for then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to subvert the U.S. government.

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"The American people and Congress are not fully aware of the power of space with the technologies of the last few years," Kwast said. "The power of space is going to create a great race and a new game for economic power, military power and political power. And it's going to change the world."

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Multiple sources who've worked with the general have told Military.com in recent weeks that they believe Kwast has been treated unfairly, and say former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson blacklisted the general for promotion because Kwast defied a gag order on discussing space missions and the Space Force publicly. Officials confirmed to Military.com that there was a gag order, which closely followed the Air Force's 2018 guidance to limit engagement with the press in what was described as an effort to protect operational security in line with the new National Defense Strategy.

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Frank Gaffney: Steven Kwast Is the General Trump Has Been Seeking

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Unfortunately, unless President Trump acts quickly, Gen. Kwast will be unwillingly retired from his service because his vision for one of our most urgent national missions – the assured access to and use of outer space – aligned with the Commander-in-Chief’s, but not that of the Air Force. The recently departed Secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson, made it her personal mission to terminate this highly accomplished general officer’s career because he persuasively argued that America’s vital interests in space are too important to be subordinated to the priorities of an institution preoccupied with manned aircraft and aerial warfare.

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This is not the first time that the Air Force has bucked a President. A highly pertinent – if little known – previous instance occurred in 1981. The service’s Chief of Staff, Gen. Lew Allen, testified before the House Armed Services Committee in opposition to a national program involving space. It had been included in President Reagan’s defense build-up, but was deemed by the Air Force leadership as consuming their resources at the expense of other, higher priorities. Thankfully, there were officers in uniform – like Gen. Kwast today – who were willing to put their careers on the line to advance the country’s vital interests. They worked with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to overcome House counterparts’ objections – and deployment of the Global Positioning System was authorized to proceed.

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With respect to space, Gen. Kwast has closely studied Chinese (and Russian) doctrines for treating it as a theater of operations likely to determine outcomes on the ground, in the air and perhaps under the seas of the earth below. He also is expert in the capabilities these nations, and even lesser powers, are increasingly capable of bringing to bear that can jeopardize our own, vital use of space.

Particularly notable is the general’s conviction that the nation first able to tap the ability to generate electricity in space and make it widely available around the globe will have a decisive advantage. He has sponsored work that can help ensure it’s the United States of America, not the Communist China.

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He has also sponsored promising energy technology developments with the potential to enable the armed forces’ bases to remain operational even if the grid goes down, a necessity for the national security and a potential vehicle for standing up microgrids to meet the needs of dependents and others in the adjacent populations.

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Gen. Kwast has been compared to another accomplished aviator and military strategist, Colonel Billy Mitchell, for his visionary understanding of emerging technological trends and their security implications. Unfortunately, in both men’s cases, their detractors inflicted considerable reputational harm before the insights these leaders advanced became conventional wisdom. At least to date, Gen. Kwast has not been subjected, as was Col. Mitchell, to the ignominy of a court-martial for his pioneering contributions to the art of war.

Far from being punished by being forced to retire, Steve Kwast should be tapped to put his ideas into practice as the commanding officer of President Trump’s Space Force. By so doing, the Commander-in-Chief would find the military leader he has long sought and the nation would be well on its way to having the space capability it urgently requires.

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No, that source is just bloviating about pipe dreams. There is absolutely nothing on our technological horizon that can deliver those promises.

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The way you post links really bugs me. J

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That would be awesome.

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Because of people like me who do not like to read "aliens' or "q" threads but want to read about Space Force. I prefer topics that give solid information over topics that may or may not be real. That being said I have no problem with people posting topics that don't interest me because I simply choose not to read them and move on to something that does interest me. Like space force, since my hometown was built on space tech, and I do lots of work at NASA buildings, absolutely peaks my interest.

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viceman

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