Report: Pentagon must review, better define responsibilities in the space domain

The Defense Department needs to conduct a holistic review of the various organizations conducting space-based operations — as well as their assigned missions — to ensure there are no overlapping efforts and provide more clarity on responsibilities, according to a new report set to be released next week.

The forthcoming assessment from the Mitchell Institute, “Charting a Path to Space Superiority: The Cross-Domain Imperative,” recommends a number of actions and reforms the Pentagon should conduct to ensure the department has adequate control over the space domain both in peacetime and during conflict.

The report, scheduled to be published Dec. 9, argues that the rapid establishment of the Space Force and reestablishment of U.S. Space Command in 2019 was necessary at the time — however, the effort prevented the DOD from effectively consolidating all of its space-based missions and organizations, putting the department at risk of inefficiencies and duplicated efforts today.

“Six years later, it is past time to review the entire national security space architecture to evaluate whether greater transformation and further deliberate reassigning of responsibilities is needed to achieve the intended streamlined and centralized space control establishment,” the report states.

A comprehensive assessment of the national security space enterprise has not been conducted since the introduction of the Space Force and Spacecom, according to Jennifer Reeves, senior resident fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute and author of the report.

During a Thursday meeting with reporters ahead of the document’s publication, Reeves said that such a review should encompass space missions and responsibilities conducted by all of the military services, combatant commands and intelligence agencies.

“We need to ensure we are fulfilling all the missions that should be fulfilled, and that talks to effectiveness,” she said. “At the same time, we want to ensure that we’re not unintentionally duplicating missions, flying in the face of efficiency in times when it could be dangerous, as well as fiscally constrained, and we are wasting money on duplicated systems and missions.”

As the Space Force expanded over the last few years, the service has been involved in disputes with other organizations due to overlapping responsibilities, such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It has also absorbed new missions from other military services, including satellite communications, moving target indication, and missile warning and tracking. 

Although some recent issues over responsibilities have been resolved, Reeves said there still isn’t enough clarity on what organizations in the Pentagon are specifically doing — or should be doing — in the space domain.

“It’s just the right time to look holistically at the enterprise and say, ‘Is everybody doing what they’re supposed to do? Do we know what everyone is supposed to be doing? And have we laid that out appropriately for all the entities involved?’” she said.

A thorough understanding of space-based missions and responsibilities would also help the Defense Department define how all of the military services, combatant commands and intelligence agencies would support Spacecom both during peacetime and conflict, the report notes. 

Previously, U.S. Space Command has acted in a supporting role during military operations by providing critical space-based capabilities. But in the event the domain is part of a future conflict’s front line, the command will take the operational lead and require crucial support from other organizations.

“Each entity must understand where it fits in, both in peacetime and during conflict, and SPACECOM must know what tasks these organizations will and will not cover,” the report states. “SPACECOM must also have oversight over where new technology or additional depth of capacity is needed in space operations.”

In order to provide support to U.S. Space Command, the other military services could either develop new technologies or find ways that current systems can augment space-based capabilities, Reeves noted.

For example, the Navy’s Aegis Combat System could provide warning of direct ascent anti-satellite missile launches in some cases, while data collected by an F-35 Lightning II fighter jet could determine sources of electromagnetic warfare threats to space systems.

“The joint examination of all available means to achieve space superiority is essential to deliver joint lethality and establish a proper alignment of resources to maximize cost per effect, regardless of service,” the report states. “America’s defense dollars are limited, and mission demand is growing, so every dollar must yield optimized results.”