BRASILIA, Brazil: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday he is satisfied that creating a Space Force as a separate military service is the right way to reorganize the Pentagon’s approach to space.
Mattis, who last year opposed moves in Congress to create a separate space service, said his emphasis then was on establishing a consensus about what the Pentagon’s space problem is before recommending a way to fix it.
“I was not against setting up a Space Force,” he told reporters flying with him to Brazil to begin his first tour of South America as defense secretary. “What I was against was rushing to do that before we could define the problem” that needed solving.
This, he said, is why he pushed back against efforts in Congress to create a Space Force. In a letter to Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, in July 2017, Mattis wrote, “I do not wish to add a separate service that would likely present a narrower and even parochial approach to space operations.”
Mattis’ comments Sunday were his first since Vice President Mike Pence announced on Thursday that the Trump administration would push for creation of the Space Force as a sixth, separate military service by 2020. The Pentagon first will establish a Space Command to oversee and coordinate space operations and a Space Development Agency to accelerate the development and fielding of space technologies for the military. It also will build up larger numbers of servicemen and servicewomen with expertise in space operations.
“We’re in favor of war-fighting capability organized along the lines of what the president laid out,” Mattis said, referring to President Donald Trump’s instruction in June that the Pentagon begin the process of creating a Space Force that would be “separate but equal” to the Air Force, which currently manages most of the military’s space operations.
Mattis said he has been discussing this with Trump and Pence since the first month of the administration.
Critics of making space a separate branch of the military say it would entail more bureaucracy and cost. Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said on Thursday that the Pentagon does not yet know how much it will cost but that it would be in the billions of dollars.
Shanahan said the Pentagon would submit a legislative proposal for a Space Force early next year as part of its fiscal 2020 budget request.
Mattis was in Brazil to discuss a range of defense issues, including mutual security threats. Later in the week, he is scheduled to make the first visit to Argentina by a US defense secretary since 2005. He also will visit Chile and Colombia.
Pentagon chief Mattis defends his reversal on Space Force
Pentagon chief Mattis defends his reversal on Space Force
- Critics of making space a separate branch of the military say it would entail more bureaucracy and cost
- The Pentagon first will establish a Space Command to oversee and coordinate space operations and a Space Development Agency
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
