Pentagon space warfare7/4/2023 ![]() ![]() The goal, according to a presentation by Army Gen. Transportation Command, or USTRANSCOM, the Pentagon office tasked with shuttling cargo to keep the American global military presence humming, announced that it was partnering with Musk’s SpaceX rocketry company to determine the feasibility of quickly blasting supplies into space and back to Earth rather than flying them through the air. “Any administration would probably push back on some of this just because they don’t want Congress messing with this.The Pentagon envisions a future in which Elon Musk’s rockets might someday deploy a “quick reaction force” to thwart a future Benghazi-style attack, according to documents obtained by The Intercept via Freedom of Information Act request. “That’s going to stir up some controversy - we’re aware,” he said. Warner said he expects several of the provisions to be unpopular - particularly those focused on weighing security risks against the public interest, charging fees to agencies that overclassify and setting limits on how long certain documents can remain secret. It would also require federal agencies to access the need for “number and types of security clearances.” The second bill, the Sensible Declassification Act, focuses on streamlining the declassification process, improving training programs to ensure “sensible classification” and modernizing the system that manages these issues. It would also require most documents to be stripped of classification protections after 25 years. To get after insider threat concerns, the bill would set minimum standards for what information can leave government buildings. Agencies would allocate a portion of their annual budgets to the fund and those with the highest rates of classified information would be required to contribute more. ![]() Further, it would also establish a fund to upgrade the outdated systems that support declassification. The bill would also require that before designating a program as classified, agencies must validate that the national security risk to revealing that information is more compelling than the public’s right to know. The bill would designate the director of national intelligence as the executive agent for classification and declassification, creating a single authority overseeing the system. The first bill, the Classification Reform Act, targets the classification process itself, setting accountability and governance measures to ensure that secrecy levels are being applied appropriately. “All of that coalesced a bipartisan group of us on the Intelligence Committee to say it’s time to actually put up a piece of legislation, or a couple of pieces of legislation,” he said. Warner said those incidents have brought a new urgency to the reform discussion. At the same time, several recent events - including alleged misuse of classified documents by the Trump and Biden administrations and the leak of classified Pentagon documents by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard - renew concerns by some that access and handling of secret information is not subject to enough oversight. Officials have for years warned that overclassification hinders work with allies and industry and makes it harder to communicate with the public. ![]() Secrecy within the defense and intelligence communities is not a new obstacle. “Whether it got in-total attached or whether we have pieces of this that went into the or the Intelligence Authorization Act, we’re actively working that.” “We’ve not done a major socialization with the House yet, but we know there are a lot of people who are interested in this issue,” he said. In a May 11 briefing on Capitol Hill, Warner said that while achieving true reform may be “a bit of a slog,” he’s working to make progress on some of the recommendations during this legislative session. ![]()
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