Why not have NASA completely merge with the United States Air Force. They cooperate on pilots and hardware. The Air Force budget is much more than that. Minus well take advantage of the technology the Air Force can give.
Looks to me like the commies in DC spend more on the DOE than NASA.
it would be a cultural mismatch. they each do the same things very differently. however, our national history of exploration and expansion was not led by a civilian agency. the military has always led the way or supported the ivilians who got there before them.
There were 'pure' military missions with the Space Shuttle. Before that, there was an Air Force version of Project Gemini complete with their own astronauts and a modified version of the capsule. The Air Force project was in support of the "Manned Orbital Laboratory" (MOL) -- which was a reconnaissance platform. The Air Force lost interest in the project as unmanned recon satellites became more capable.
This points to the basic problem of putting manned space exploration under the Pentagon. Their mission is national defense. If a program can't fit under that umbrella it's going to get short-shrift.