In 2017, President Trump established his National Space Council, a body of senior officials charged with developing modern policies for commercial and international space utilization. On March 23, 2018, President Trump announced his National Space Strategy, which recognizes that America’s competitors have turned space into a warfighting domain, and charts a whole-of-government approach to maintaining America’s leadership in space.
On June 18, 2018, President Trump directed the Department of Defense to immediately begin the important process of establishing Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.  Defense Secretary James Mattis introduces Vice President Mike Pence today:


[Transcript] The Pentagon – Arlington, Virginia, 11:17 A.M. EDT: THE VICE PRESIDENT: Secretary Mattis, Deputy Secretary Shanahan, General Selva, General Goldfein, members of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, and all the men and women of the United States Department of Defense who each and every day oversee the greatest military in the history of the world: Thank you for all you do every day for the American people. (Applause.)
(more…)