Trump’s unfinished business: An independent Space Force
https://spacenews.com/on-national-security-trumps-unfinished-business-an-independent-space-force/
Excerpt:
.....When the Space Force was established in December 2019, pragmatism prevailed over ambition. Rather than emerging as a standalone department, it was nested within the Department of the Air Force — a compromise necessary to navigate congressional concerns about bureaucratic bloat. Yet this arrangement, while expedient, was not meant to be permanent.
The groundwork for a Department of the Space Force was laid in Trump’s first term, with a January 2019 space policy directive explicitly stating that “As the United States Space Force matures, and as national security requires, it will become necessary to create a separate military department, to be known as the Department of the Space Force.” The directive instructed the defense secretary to conduct periodic reviews to assess and recommend the optimal timing for establishing a dedicated department.
The current structure has proved workable, noted Douglas Loverro, a key architect of the Space Force legislation. “But eventually, the Space Force has to have its own department.”
The Air Force’s operational support and infrastructure have facilitated the Space Force’s initial growth, but this dependence also constrains the development of its unique identity, Loverro said on a recent episode of The Downlink Podcast. “The Space Force needs to have a doctrine and a character and a culture that is not Air Force in nature.”
This isn’t about interservice rivalry, said Loverro. It’s about recognizing that space operations demand their own strategic framework, distinct from aerial warfare.
Enter DOGE
Creating an entirely new Pentagon department would contradict Trump’s rhetoric about reducing government bureaucracy.
This is where things could get interesting. Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — led by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — could pave the way for Space Force independence by identifying offsetting cuts elsewhere and providing a framework to enable Space Force independence without expanding the defense bureaucracy.
Industry insiders speculate that DOGE would target acquisition organizations, particularly those viewed as impediments to faster-paced innovation and the adoption of commercial technologies. Reducing legacy procurement structures could theoretically fund a new Space Force department, though it hinges on resolving budgetary trade-offs.
This approach would satisfy Trump’s appetite for disruption and his skepticism of the defense establishment. It would also fulfill his original vision for the Space Force.
The timing may be particularly opportune, given growing geopolitical tensions in space. As space increasingly becomes a contested domain, with rival powers developing sophisticated counter-space capabilities, the need for focused space defense leadership grows more acute, analysts say.
Subordination strains
.....Peter Garretson, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, goes further, arguing that the Air Force’s organizational challenges are actively hampering America’s space strategy. “Space is currently getting short shrift,” Garretson stated. With the Air Force preoccupied with challenges like maintaining its aging fleet, he said, critical questions about America’s space vision and activities are perpetually sidelined.
These critiques underscore the thinking that the current organizational structure may need to change for the Space Force to achieve its potential, and that a fully independent Space Force would be a recognition that space has become a distinct warfare domain requiring dedicated leadership and focused strategic thinking.
The issue may find new life under the second Trump administration. And this time, the stars might align differently.
Cuban military company posed as a civilian entity to process U.S. remittances, report says
After President Trump cut off remittances through an entity owned by the Castro military, the communist regime set up a front company to take over the business, and continued making millions. That company, Orbit S.A., has not been exposed.
Translated excerpt with translators comments:
The Cuban government established a supposedly civilian company to process remittances from the United States after the Trump administration sanctioned Fincimex, a military-controlled company, in 2020. Fincimex had been handling remittance transactions.
The new company, Orbit S.A., was presented by the Cuban government as an independent civilian entity registered under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment. However, an investigation by the Miami Herald revealed that the company operates as an extension of Cimex, another key enterprise under GAESA, the powerful military conglomerate that controls much of Cuba’s economy.
The U.S. sanctions on Fincimex aim to prevent remittance funds sent by Cuban expatriates from benefiting the Cuban military, citing human rights violations and support for Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela.
The U.S. Treasury Department authorized agreements between remittance companies like Western Union and Orbit on the condition that the Cuban company had no military ties. However, internal Cimex documents reviewed by the Herald showed that Cimex oversees Orbit’s operations, analyzes its performance, and prepares reports on money transfers conducted through Western Union and Miami-based agencies such as VaCuba and Cubamax.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Martí Noticias on Tuesday that the Biden administration is committed to “promoting the flow of remittances to the Cuban people without enriching Cuba’s military, intelligence, or security services.”
Orbit S.A. retains the same staff and operational structure as Fincimex, even sharing the same physical location in Miramar, Havana. Its current director, Diana Rosa Rodríguez Pérez, has a long history with Cimex and GAESA.
Remittances are a crucial source of dollar income for GAESA, which uses these funds for projects like building tourist hotels, while the Cuban population faces a severe crisis marked by shortages of food, medicine, and other essential goods.
Emilio Morales, director of the Florida-based think tank Cuba Siglo 21, which investigates Cuban military enterprises, stated that “the Biden administration was informed from the beginning about Orbit S.A.’s true intentions, and evidence was presented to the State Department showing that it was a cover to evade sanctions. However, they decided to proceed,” allowing remittances to flow, .....
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You can bet the Mexican cartels have money mules in the US and Mexico laundering money via ‘remittances’.
BookmarQ