Out of Orbit

More than three years after a national commission concluded that the military needs a nucleus of space experts, the Defense Department has yet to establish a professional cadre with the smarts to master highly complex technology and develop tactics and doctrines for the future.

A midsummer report (GAO-04-697) from the Government Accountability Office finds that Pentagon officials have taken steps to populate a space force with Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army and National Reconnaissance Office personnel. But GAO says the military has not completed any key actions in a space human-capital strategy that was delivered to Congress in February. "Failure to achieve this could jeopardize U.S. primacy in this critical and evolving national security area," auditors wrote.

Addressed to the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, the Aug. 11 report echoes lawmakers' concerns. Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., chairman of the House strategic forces subcommittee, worries about the "breadth and depth" of the Defense plan to identify, train and promote space leaders. "It seems to lack sufficient detail and structure for implementation," Everett said on July 22 as he opened a hearing on the issue.

The Pentagon employs satellites and other space assets for a range of missions, including precise targeting, search and rescue, and close air support. "The global war on terrorism has driven home the importance of space and the need to have folks that are educated and trained in space," acknowledged Gen. John Thomas, the Marine Corps' chief information officer.

Development of a skilled space cadre was identified as a major need in the findings of the 2001 Space Commission, chartered by Congress to assess the management and organization of the national security space program. Donald Rumsfeld headed the group before being named Defense secretary and acted on the recommendations from his Pentagon post. He ordered a top-down realignment that designated the Air Force the Defense Department's executive agent for space. He also directed all the services to draft plans for developing, maintaining and managing a cadre of space-qualified professionals.

The plans have evolved at a pace some insiders describe as "glacial." To nudge things along, Congress repeated the instructions in the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act. Legislators also asked the Pentagon for a strategy to coordinate space-related career development and integrate the jobs with each service's personnel system.

The space human-capital strategy describes long-term goals for integrating and educating space experts. It also spells out leadership, career development and management objectives. GAO says it provides general direction but lacks a results-oriented implementation plan.

For the August report, GAO examined the extent of each service's initiatives to develop and manage its own space corps, and considered the degree to which the individual approaches promote integration. The report concludes that the Air Force and the Marine Corps have made significant progress, but the Navy and the Army have not. Because they lack strategic focus, the auditors write, "The Army and the Navy may not have the ability to develop and retain the appropriate number of personnel with the right skills to meet both their needs and the joint requirements of the national security space community." The auditors observe that even the Air Force and Marine Corps strategies will take years to develop fully. Funding for the efforts vary widely. The Air Force has set aside $9.1 million for its cadre in 2004, and plans to increase it to $21 million by 2009. The Marine Corps, by comparison, has not set aside funding and does not anticipate needing any.

One challenge the services face is a shortfall in systems engineering expertise-and not solely in the military. "This is an extremely complex national problem," says John Douglass, president and chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association.

Air Force Undersecretary Peter Teets said at the July hearing, "Our aim is to have our acquirers proficient in sound engineering practices and appropriate risk-management decisions." Another challenge is ensuring that space experts have optimal opportunities for promotion. "We are determined to ensure that the space cadre disciplines do not become stovepipes that stifle development and kill careers," Teets testified.

Defining who among the ranks-military or civilian-should belong to the cadre has been a stumbling block, too. The question is especially difficult for the Navy, which depends on satellites for navigation but focuses on networking space assets for warfare. Officials told GAO that the Navy has not created a separate career field for 1,011 cadre members because it views space as integrated throughout its operations. "Are you going to include a technician who works on a certain piece of hardware used to operate a certain satellite in space? When you really look at who's supposed to be in [the space cadre], it could be huge," a Navy academician close to the process tells Government Executive. "This is the big gorilla I think all the services are trying to wrestle with."

The Army, which controls a Defense satellite communications system and operates mobile ground terminals, is in a similar bind. Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen, commander of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, asked lawmakers for "some patience" as the service decides whether to add hundreds more enlisted and civilian personnel to its current cadre of 148 active-duty officers with space know-how. The decision will be based on two studies set to conclude next year.

Education is the focus of a three-tiered certification process that Air Force Space Command envisions will become standard for all the services. Only one of the required courses was being offered at the time the GAO report was published. About 250 students from all the services, the National Reconnaissance Office and NASA have completed a four-week "Space 200" course for professionals with eight or more years of experience. A six-week "Space 100" course for beginners will not debut until later this year. The "Space 300" course for senior strategists has yet to be developed.

The courses might be a good start, but Robert Calico, engineering and management provost at the Air Force Institute of Technology, says the services jointly should "spend more time setting requirements for degreed graduate education."