KARL GROSSMAN, kgrossman at hamptons.com
Grossman just wrote the piece “The Very Bad Space Force Deal,” which states: “Unless grassroots action somehow stops it, it looks likely that the Trump scheme for a Space Force, a sixth branch of United States armed forces, will happen. The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the $738 billion military policy bill that gives Trump his sought-for Space Force as he moves for what he terms ‘American dominance in space.’
“The vote for what is titled the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2020 was 377 to 48. Some 189 Republicans and 188 Democrats voted for it. Six Republican House members voted no, along with 41 Democrats and one independent.
“The large Democratic yes vote came as a result of a trade-off for 12 weeks of paid parental leave for civilian federal employees. The New York Times’ article said Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, was pivotal. ‘It was Mr. Kushner who helped broker a deal to create the Space Force, a chief priority of the president’s, in exchange for the paid parental leave, a measure championed by his wife, Ivanka Trump, also a senior advisor to the president,’ said The Times. ….
“The Trump administration and the U.S. military have been claiming that a Space Force is necessary because of Russia and China moving into space militarily but, in fact, Russia and China and U.S. neighbor Canada have been leaders for decades in pushing for an expansion of the Outer Space Treaty. It bans weapons of mass destruction in space. The Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) treaty that the three nations have sought to expand would prohibit the placement of any weapons in space.
“The U.S. — under both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations — has opposed the PAROS treaty and effectively vetoed its enactment at the United Nations.” Grossman is professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury. He is author of The Wrong Stuff: The Space’s Program’s Nuclear Threat to Our Planet.
BRUCE GAGNON, globalnet at mindspring.com
Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Gagnon, is quoted in Grossman’s piece: “It is not a surprise, but still disheartening, to see that 188 Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the NDAA bill in the House.” He noted that “the Democrats were led by Rep. Adam Smith from the Seattle area which means that the aerospace giant Boeing Corp., which stands to make a gold mine off Space Force, clearly pulls Mr. Smith’s chain.”
