ACTION ALERT: ‘No Militarization of Space Act’ introduced in Congress
Karl Grossman / Nation of Change
(October 4, 2021) — A “No Militarization of Space Act” — which would abolish the new US Space Force—has been introduced in the US Congress.
It is sponsored by five members of the House of Representatives led by Representative Jared Huffman who, in a statement, called the US Space Force “costly and unnecessary.”
Representative Huffman declared: “The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel. But since its creation under the former Trump administration, the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Mr. Huffman said: “It’s time we turn our attention back to where it belongs: addressing urgent domestic and international priorities like battling COVID-19, climate change, and growing economic inequality. Our mission must be to support the American people, not spend billions on the militarization of space.”
With the California representative as co-sponsors of the measure are Representatives Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Maxine Waters of California; Rashida Tlaib of Michigan; and Jesus Garcia of Illinois. All are Democrats.
The US Space Force was established in 2019 as the sixth branch of US armed forces after President Donald Trump asserted that “it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.”
The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space heralded the measure. “The Global Network congratulates Representatives Huffman and his co-sponsors for their truthful and valiant introduction of a bill to abolish the wasteful and provocative Space Force,” said the organization’s coordinator, Bruce Gagnon.
“There can be no question that we do not need a new arms race in space at
the very time climate crisis is raging, our medical care system is collapsing, and the wealth divide is growing beyond imagination,” said Gagnon. “How dare we even consider spending trillions of dollars so the US can become the ‘Master of Space’!” said Gagnon referring to the “Master of Space” motto of a component of the Space Force.
“War in space signifies a deep spiritual disconnection from all that matters most on our Mother Earth,” said Gagnon. “We encourage every living, breathing American citizen to contact their congressional representatives and demand they support this bill to get rid of Space Force.”
Cheers, too, came from Alice Slater, a member of the board of World BEYOND War. She pointed to “repeated calls from Russia and China on the United States to negotiate a treaty to ban weapons in space” and how the US “has blocked all discussion” of this. Trump “in his besotted hunkering for hegemonic glory,” said Slater, established the Space Force as “a brand new branch of the already gargantuan military juggernaut….Sadly, the new US President Biden has done nothing to ratchet down the warmongering. Fortunately, help is on the way with a group of five sane members of Congress who have introduced the No Militarization of Space Act which calls for the new Space Force to be abolished.”
“Only last week,” continued Slater, “in a speech to a United Nations conference in Geneva, Li Song, China’s ambassador for disarmament affairs, urged the US to stop being a ‘stumbling block’ to preventing an arms race in outer space noting its disrespect for treaties, starting with the end of the Cold War, and its repeated intentions to dominate and control space.”
Support for the No Militarization of Space Act came from a variety of other organizations.
Kevin Martin, President of Peace Action, said: “Outer space must be de-militarized and kept as a realm strictly for peaceful exploration. The Space Force is an absurd, duplicative waste of taxpayer dollars, and richly deserves the ridicule it has garnered. Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace and disarmament organization in the US, commends and endorses Rep. Huffman’s No Militarization of Space Act to abolish the Space Farce.”
Sean Vitka, senior policy council for the group Demand Progress, said: “Militarizing space is an unconscionable waste of billions of tax dollars, and it risks extending the worst mistakes of history to the final frontier by inviting conflict and escalation. Americans don’t want more wasteful military spending, which means Congress should pass the No Militarization of Space Act before the Space Force budget inevitably skyrockets,”
Andrew Lautz, Director of Federal Policy at the National Taxpayers Union, said: “The Space Force has quickly become a taxpayer boondoggle that adds layers of bureaucracy and waste to an already-bloated defense budget. Representative Huffman’s legislation would eliminate the Space Force before it’s too late to do so, possibly saving taxpayers billions of dollars in the process. NTU applauds Representative Huffman for introducing this bill.”
The legislation, if approved, would be part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022, the annual bill that authorizes military spending.
The Space Force was established, noted the statement from Representative Huffman, “despite the country’s commitment under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which restricts the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space and banned military maneuvers on celestial bodies.” The US Space Force has had a budget for 2021 of “a staggering $15.5 billion,” said the statement.
The Pentagon Wants War in Space:
The People Want Peace on Earth
China, Russia and US neighbor Canada have led in efforts to expand the Outer Space Treaty of 1967—put together by the US, the former Soviet Union and Great Britain and supported widely by nations all over the world—by not only barring weapons of mass destruction being deployed in space but all weaponry in space. This would be done through a Prevention of an Arms Race (PAROS) treaty. However, it must be approved by the UN’s Conference on Disarmament before being enacted—and for that a there must be unanimous vote by nations in the conference. The US has refused to support the PAROS treaty, blocking its passage.
The speech last week that Alice Slater was referring to at the UN in Geneva was reported on by the South China Morning Post. It quoted Li Song, China’s ambassador for disarmament affairs, as saying the US should “stop being a ‘stumbling block’” on the PAROS treaty and going on: “After the end of the Cold War, and especially in the past two decades, the US has tried its best to get rid of its international obligations, refused to be bound by new treaties and long resisted multilateral negotiations on PAROS. To put it bluntly, the US wants to dominate outer space.”
Li, the article continued, said: “If space is not effectively prevented from becoming a battlefield, then the ‘rules of space traffic’ will be no more than a ‘code of space warfare.’”
Craig Eisendrath, who as a young US State Department office was involved in the Outer Space Treaty’s creation has said “we sought to de-weaponize space before it got weaponized…to keep war out of space.”
The US Space Force has requested a budget of $17.4 billion for 2022 to “grow the service,” reports Air Force Magazine.“Space Force 2022 Budget Adds Satellites, Warfighting Center, More Guardians,” was the headline of its article.
Many US Air Force bases are being renamed US Space Force bases.
The US Space Force “received its first offensive weapon… satellite jammers,” reported American Military News in 2020. “The weapon does not destroy enemy satellites, but can be used to interrupt enemy satellite communications and hinder enemy early warning systems meant to detect a US attack,” it stated.
Soon afterwards, the Financial Times’headline: “US military officials eye new generation of space weapons.”
In 2001, the headline on the c4isrnet.com website, which describes itself as “Media for the Intelligence Age Military,” declared: “The Space Force wants to use directed-energy systems for space superiority.”
ACTION: Help Build Support for ‘No Militarization of Space Act’
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
(October 4, 2021) — This week, a group of five Democrat lawmakers introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would abolish the US Space Force after just two years in operation.
The bill, titled the “No Militarization of Space Act” was introduced last Wednesday by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and was co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Jesús García (D-IL), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Maxine Waters (D-CA). The bill has the stated purpose “to abolish the Space Force as an Armed Force.”
“The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel,” Huffman wrote in a statement announcing his bill. “But since its creation under the former Trump administration, the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Huffman said, “It’s time we turn our attention back to where it belongs: addressing urgent domestic and international priorities like battling COVID-19, climate change, and growing economic inequality. Our mission must be to support the American people, not spend billions on the militarization of space.”
The Space Force was established as the newest branch of the US military on December 20, 2019. President Donald Trump began calling for the creation of the Space Force in 2018 and the new military branch received its initial funding through the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
ACTION:
• Recognizing the Duty of the Department of Defense to Annually Report All Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Progress on Reduction Targets
• Please contact your member of the House of Representatives and urge them to support the “No Militarization of Space Act.” (At this moment we don’t have the bill number.)
• You can reach your House member in DC here.
Watch GN Webinars Linking Space & Climate
• Speakers: Dave Webb (UK), Regina Hagen (Germany), Stuart Parkinson (UK) and Dieter Engels (German astronomer). Click here.
• You can check out our entire catalog of space issues videos here.
House Democrats Introduce Bill to Abolish Space Force
Space Force officials present then-President Trump with the Space Force Flag
Ryan Morgan / American Military News
(September 24, 2021) — This week, a group of five Democrat lawmakers introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would abolish the US Space Force after just two years in operation.
The bill, titled the “No Militarization of Space Act” was introduced on Wednesday by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and was co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Jesús García (D-IL), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Maxine Waters (D-CA). The bill has the stated purpose “to abolish the Space Force as an Armed Force.”
“The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel,” Huffman wrote in a statement announcing his bill. “But since its creation under the former Trump administration, the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Huffman said, “It’s time we turn our attention back to where it belongs: addressing urgent domestic and international priorities like battling COVID-19, climate change, and growing economic inequality. Our mission must be to support the American people, not spend billions on the militarization of space.”
The Space Force was established as the newest branch of the US military on December 20, 2019. President Donald Trump began calling for the creation of the Space Force in 2018 and the new military branch received its initial funding through the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The branch’s stated mission is to serve as a branch “that organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect US and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force. USSF responsibilities include developing Guardians, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to our Combatant Commands.”
The branch was founded amid ongoing efforts by China and Russia to develop space-based weapons capabilities. In 2007, China launched a missile 537 miles above the earth and destroyed one of its own satellites and both countries have continued to develop weapons that can destroy satellites in space.
Even before Trump put his support behind creating a Space Force, the Department of Defense had debated creating a Space Corps as a sub-branch of the US Air Force. The Air Force had already taken some measures to protect its space-based assets.
In the nearly two years since it received its initial funding, the Space Force has staffed itself by drawing heavily from members of other military branches who have space-related training. In December 2020, the first seven Space Force members to enlist directly with the new branch graduated from basic training.
Speaking in support of Huffman’s newly proposed legislation, Peace Action President Kevin Martin said, “Outer space must be de-militarized and kept as a realm strictly for peaceful exploration. The Space Force is an absurd, duplicative waste of taxpayer dollars, and richly deserves the ridicule it has garnered. Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace and disarmament organization in the US, commends and endorses Rep. Huffman’s ‘No Militarization of Space Act’ to abolish the Space Farce.”
Andrew Lautz, the Director of Federal Policy at National Taxpayers Union said, “The Space Force has quickly become a taxpayer boondoggle that adds layers of bureaucracy and waste to an already-bloated defense budget.”
“Americans don’t want more wasteful military spending, which means Congress should pass the No Militarization of Space Act before the Space Force budget inevitably skyrockets,” Sean Vitka, the senior policy counsel for Demand Progress, also said in support of Huffman’s bill.
In February, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared to compare press questions about the Space Force to questions about the paint scheme of Air Force One, raising criticisms that President Joe Biden’s administration does not take the branch seriously. In a subsequent statement, Psaki said, “They [Space Force] absolutely have the full support of the Biden administration and we are not revisiting the decision to establish the Space Force.
The desire for the Department of Defense to focus greater attention and resources on the growing security challenges in space has long been a bipartisan issue, and formed by numerous independent commissions and studies conducted by multiple administrations, and thousands of men and women proudly serve in the Space Force.”
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