--- title: "Progressive Groups Call For Elimination of Space Force" description: "According to a memo, progressive groups are planning to pressure president-elect Joe Biden's transition team into eliminating the Space Force." date: "2020-11-18" modified: "2020-11-18" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/progressive-groups-elimination-space-force" categories: - "Future Society" - "Space" - "Space Force" tags: - "joe biden" - "Pentagon" - "space force" - "trump" --- # Progressive Groups Call For Elimination of Space Force ![According to a memo, progressive groups are planning to pressure president-elect Joe Biden's transition team into eliminating the Space Force.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* According to a memo first [obtained by *Politico*](), progressive groups are planning to pressure president-elect Joe Biden's transition team into slashing military budgets — with one specific aim being to eliminate the US Space Force. The memo calls out the Space Force as an "unnecessary bureaucracy that costs $16 billion in 2021" and militarizes space, as [quoted by *SpaceNews*](), which obtained the memo as well. The $16 billion referred to by the memo technically came out of the budget of the Air Force and [was requested]() for the 2021 fiscal year back in February. It's also dwarfed by the Pentagon's [overall $740 billion budget](). The Space Force is the youngest arm of the military, established in December 2019 when president Donald Trump signed the US Space Force Act. Congress made the decision permanent with the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The service's main mandates [are rather murky](). It's focused on protecting US interests in space, including the overseeing and [development of satellites](), and deterring aggression in space. Trump has done little to pin down the group's mandate, often falling back on verbiage about being "number one" in space. "Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital," [he said]() during the official launch in December 2019. "And we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough. But very shortly we’ll be leading by a lot." The service has already faced a good deal of criticism over its short history. Early on, it was [deemed]() a "bureaucratic mess in search of a problem" by the media, and characterized as a reshuffling of existing personnel more than anything concrete. The Space Force still has plenty of ties to the US Air Force and has been slow to recruit personnel. [Approximately 16,000]() military and civilian space staff were assigned upon its creation in 2019, and in June, [more than 8,500]() active-duty Air Force service members volunteered to join the service. But eliminating the Space Force would be no easy task. In fact, Biden would not technically have the power to do so alone, as *SpaceNews* points out. "Surely the Biden administration will have more pressing legislative priorities than this in the context of COVID, the economy, and domestic priorities," adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security Sarah Mineiro, who helped draft legislation of the Space Force and Space Command, told *SpaceNews*. **READ MORE:** [Anti-war groups take aim at Space Force, ICBMs, missile defense]() \[*SpaceNews*\] **More on Space Force:** *[The Space Force Is Building Satellites That Resist Jamming]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()