Guard Chief: Transferring Air National Guard missions into Space Force will cost $1B, harm readiness

Correction: This article was updated 06/02/23 @ 4:00 pm ET to reflect that Gen. Hokanson’s comments were not about the administration’s proposed “Space Force Personnel Management Act” which creates a blended full-time/part-time hybrid, but about consideration of integrating space missions now undertaken by Air National Guard members into the Space Force itself.

WASHINGTON — National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Daniel Hokanson told the Senate Appropriations Committee today that folding space-related jobs now undertaken by the Air National Guard into the Space Force will cost $1 billion and add years of additional training that would harm readiness.

Thus, he said, his “best military advice,” is instead “to transfer the current Air National Guard units doing the space mission into a National Guard component for the Space Force, so they can continue everything they’re doing today tomorrow.”

Hokanson’s remarks came in response to pointed questions from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is spearheading legislation to create a separate Space National Guard, as well as Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. All three are members of the defense appropriations subcommittee.

Shaheen said that the possibility that the Biden administration will decide to forgo a Space National Guard “is a very real concern.”

“I have asked [Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman] about that issue on several occasions and the ambiguous response has not been reassuring,” she said.

Hokanson asserted that if the space missions that reside in the Air National Guard transfer to the Space Force where Guardians would have to be trained to handle them, it would necessitate seven to 10 years of extra training — accounting for a good chunk of his $1 billion estimate.

“My concern is, if we looked at reestablishing them into another component, it could cost our nation about a billion dollars. And that is not only to restructure and build this within a different component, but then also the need to retrain those current Air Guard members that are performing the mission into another mission set,” he said.

Hokason’s remarks echo arguments made by dozens of senior National Guard officers in a letter to President Joe Biden last year that a more dramatic reorganization would require rebuilding some specialized units “from scratch.” The National Guard Association of the United States reiterated the assertion about additional training time in a follow-up letter last month. 

The Air Guard space specialists have been responsible for space missions “for over 28 years, in some cases, we’re the only ones that have ever done those missions,” he said. “We’ve got 14 units of about 1,000 people. We’re about 30 percent of the operational squadrons today.”

So rather than create a new beast, he argued, it would make more sense to simply re-designate those Air Guard units performing the space mission to a Space Guard. “I could do that within the resources that I currently have in my budget. It would be to simply be from one drill weekend to the next where our airmen would change their name tape from Air Force to Space Force. And at no time would it interrupt the capabilities they provide to our nation. The personnel would stay in the same place, same civilian jobs doing the same mission that they’re doing every single day today.”

By contrast, OMB has argued that creation of a separate Guard branch for space would cost up to $500 million annually and provide no new capabilities.

But to Hokanson, creating a Space National Guard is cheaper and easier. “When you look at this, it’s a I think, a very easy decision,” he concluded.