WASHINGTON
— Some 30 leaders from across the U.S. military, intelligence, civil and
commercial space arenas have come together to urge U.S. President Barack Obama
to address the systemic problems they say are now plaguing the entire U.S.
space enterprise.
The
nonpartisan, independent Committee for U.S. Space Leadership, composed of
current space industry professionals and former top military and civil space
officials, has concluded the U.S. space industrial work force problems, looming
gaps in important space-based
capabilities and widespread program overreach can only be remedied by
increased White House involvement.
Failure to
act, the group said in a memo to the president, could result in further erosion
of U.S.
leadership in space. The memo, a copy of which was provided to Space
News, is being circulated on Capitol Hill and among White House officials.
Recent
studies such as the so-called Allard Commission chaired by former Martin
Marietta chief A. Thomas Young have come to similar conclusions on U.S. space
management and leadership but were focused more narrowly on national
security. The Committee for U.S. Space Leadership is more broadly focused,
encompassing all U.S. space activities, said retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen.
Michael Hamel, a member of the group and a former commander of Air Force Space
and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles. The committee is making broad
recommendations, avoiding the specific organizational and programmatic ones
made by previous panels.
"I
think there's widespread recognition that we have serious issues and challenges
across the space community," Hamel said in a Feb. 19 interview.
"What's been a little bit different about what we've tried to advocate is
although we have distinctive space sectors in military, civil, intelligence,
commercial, the fact is these are all highly interconnected. Many of the problems
we see in one sector are paralleled in others."
The
committee held briefings with U.S. House and Senate staffers Feb. 9, and is now
considering its options for how to proceed.
The group's
memo to the president says the United States' space sectors are in worse
shape today than they were a decade ago. Space provides direct, tangible
benefits to the country, including a $250 billion annual global market, an
innovative and highly skilled work force, expanded knowledge about the Earth
and solar system, and the ability to rapidly and effectively respond with
military force anywhere on the planet, the memo says. But these benefits were
derived largely from Cold War competition with the Soviet Union, guided by
presidential involvement.
The nation
today is at a critical point in the evolution of space as a national
enterprise, the memo says. Space is closely linked to items
on Obama's agenda including the economy, national security, education,
employment, energy and the environment.
"Just
as the mastery and use of maritime and air domains helped define the course of
world affairs and the histories of the 19th and 20th centuries, so too mastery
of space will be a defining feature of the 21st century," it says.
Committee
member James Armor, a retired Air Force major general, said concerns about the
erosion of U.S. space capabilities were raised during meetings of the Space
Partnership Council, which he hosted as director of the Pentagon's
National Security Space Office. The council includes the heads of NASA,
Air Force Space Command and the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
"They
were starting to see the problems across the board, for example, the ability to
do the systems engineering in large, complex systems acquisition," Armor
said in a Feb. 19 interview. "They were all concerned about it.
"[The
Committee on U.S. Space Leadership] quickly converged as a group to understand
what was lacking was a vision and leadership from a White House level. When
there were stovepipe issues from each domain that cut across other domains and
agencies, they just weren't getting resolved at the White House level. The Bush
administration issued what I thought was a pretty good [National Space Policy]
in 2006, but there was no implementing strategy among all the departments and
agencies. So a good policy is necessary, but you have to follow through with a
decision-making mechanism."
The
committee's memo makes six key recommendations:
- Establish
a White House focal point, such as a National Space Council, to set
priorities, provide management oversight and coordinate decisions and
actions across the departments and agencies. The council should include
senior White House and cabinet-level engagement.
- Consider
creating a Presidential Space Advisory Board, similar to the president's
Intelligence Advisory Board, to provide independent advice and outreach to
the space sectors and public.
- Revise
national space policy to establish a strategic direction and clear
priorities, and align space programs to achieve broader national
objectives.
- Devise a
strategy to achieve these space policy goals by the end of 2009.
- Assign
priority to the nation's space program by linking space activities to the
president's broader priorities.
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