Hawaii officials, lawmakers criticize proposal to ax Space National Guard

A recent proposal to cancel plans for National Guard Space Force units has rankled members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation and National Guard leaders.

The Department of the Air Force, which oversees the Space Force, this month submitted a congressional proposal to put part-time members of the fledgling military branch under the direct command of the active-duty force rather than use National Guard or reserve units.

Last year, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a statement saying it was “strongly opposed” to any efforts to create a Space Guard component and that “establishing a Space National Guard would not deliver new capabilities — it would instead create new government bureaucracy, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could increase costs by up to $500 million annually.”

In a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the Hawaii National Guard countered that the OMB’s stance is based on an estimate that “inaccurately estimated that the establishment of a Space National Guard would cost $100 million to $900 million. More accurately, the cost to transfer current space units to the Space Force would cost about $248,000.”

Further, “Removing space missions from the National Guard would likely have a direct impact on the space unit currently being established in the Hawaii Air National Guard. It is too soon to determine what those impacts will be until a formal decision is made on the disposition of Air National Guard space units. The worst case would be the decision to off ramp the establishment of the space unit in Hawaii displacing about 50 Airmen currently assigned to Hawaii’s space unit.”

The Space Force officially activated in December 2019. In January 2020 the Hawaii National Guard announced it would begin organizing the 293rd Space Control Squadron, which would operate out of the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.

The unit, part of Hawaii’s Air National Guard, was expected to work closely with and eventually fit directly into the mission of the Space Force. It’s ultimately expected to have about 88 members. Hawaii Air National Guard commander Brig. Gen. Ryan Okahara told the Star-Advertiser it was formed at the request of Space Force chief Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond.

U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, D- Hawaii, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and serves in the Hawaii Air National Guard, questioned military officials during a Wednesday committee hearing. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall insisted those Hawaii Guard members would continue their mission.

“The proposal does not do away with them in any existing infrastructure. It changes the way we manage the reserve in the actual component of the Space Force,” Kendall said. “The guardsmen in the Air Guard, people who are supporting the Space Force now, will continue to do so. They are very valuable assets and we do not want to lose them — they’re critical to the space mission.”

But National Guard leaders across the country have concerns. Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, the president of the Adjutants General Association, recently told the National Guard association’s magazine the current plan would “orphan” National Guard space personnel from their counterparts in the Space Force and undermine their ability to coordinate.

“I believe the Space

National Guard would provide a seamless surge capacity for the Space Force while capturing the training and talent of active-duty Space Force personnel who moved to the private sector and want to continue their service,” Kahele told officials.

During testimony, Raymond said there are 839 Guard members currently supporting the Space Force directly, but according to Military.com there are currently nearly 2,000 personnel across over a dozen National Guard units with space-related missions in Hawaii, Guam, Alaska, California, Colorado, Ohio, New York and Florida.

“The cost should be minimal. Those same personnel that Gen. Raymond just talked about will continue to execute actions within the space National Guard at this duty station, so no new construction is needed,” Kahele said.

Part of the argument the Biden administration has set forth has been that it would allow the Space Force to be more efficient, giving it direct control over part-time members and avoiding the National Guard bureaucracy.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D- Hawaii, told the Star-Advertiser on Tuesday that he sides with Hawaii National Guard leaders. “I think they have the better argument on this,” he said.

Case said he believes the congressional proposal makes faulty assumptions and would actually create more redundancy if the Space Force didn’t use existing Guard units.

“We’ve done perfectly fine with our Army National Guard and Air National Guard. So there’s no reason to believe that the Space National Guard will be any different from that perspective,” Case said. “Space Force is in its early stages of existence and it still has opposition, both inside and outside of the Department of Defense. Some of this is just growing pains.”

Last year Congress shot down proposals to create a Space National Guard, as well as a quick-fix solution to rename the Air National Guard as the Air and Space National Guard.

The creation of the Space Force under President Donald Trump was always controversial and in some cases lampooned. But space and satellite operations play increasingly important roles in military, commercial and scientific endeavors alike. Nearly all militaries today use some form of satellite-based surveillance or targeting systems. In 2020 Japan, South Korea and France also began to set up new military organizations focused on space operations.

“At the end of the day, what we need is to keep those people in uniform and to keep them doing what they are doing, whether called Air Guard or Space Guard or something else,” Kendall told Kahele. “That’s the end state we want and we’re happy to work with the Congress as we try to find a way forward to make that happen.”