The leader of NASA stands behind Trump's Space Force
Looks like NASA is on board with Trump's militarization of space.
A NASA space shuttle launch site.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine just came out in support of Trump's Space Force, the proposed sixth branch of the US armed forces.
Bridenstine told Axios why American militarization of space is important.
"When you think about the history of this, people have forever believed that space was a sanctuary, and it is not," he said. "It is becoming more contested, more congested and more competitive than ever before. And in order to preserve space, we have to be willing to defend it."
Trump nominated Bridenstine to be NASA's administrator in 2017. Bridenstine is also a former Navy pilot.
Bridenstine says vulnerability in space could threaten US security, citing reports that the Chinese and Russians are developing capabilities to target US satellites.
"And it is not just direct ascent antisatellite missiles, it's co-orbital antisatellite capabilities, it's jamming, it's dazzling, it's spoofing, it's hacking, all of these threats are proliferating at a pace we have never seen before, and the Chinese are calling space the American Achilles' heel." Bridenstine told Axios.
NASA is a US civilian space agency dedicated to scientific research and exploration of space. NASA's leader supporting a US military presence in space may hint at future NASA policy.