August 13, 2018

Defense Secretary James Mattis on Sunday offered his support for the Trump administration's proposed "Space Force," and defended his stance after having urged lawmakers to oppose it a year ago.

Speaking to reporters on board a flight to Brasilia, Mattis insisted he initially opposed the creation of a separate military branch for space because the administration had not yet defined the challenges space posed for the Pentagon.

"I was not going against setting up a Space Force; what I was against was rushing to do that before we define those problems," Mattis said. "We've had a year, over a year in defining. And the orbitization of this solution in terms of institutionalizing forward momentum is very important."

Read more:

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/401501-mattis-defends-reversing-his-stance-on-trumps-space-force