Even Space Force's Chief Doesn't Know What Its Mission Statement Should Be

The United States Space Force (USSF) is the sixth service of the U.S. Armed Forces. And when former President Donald Trump first announced its creation in December 2019, it's become the first new branch since 1947. While it's an entirely separate branch, it is organized under the Air Force, much like how the Marines fit under the Navy.

The current Space Force mission statement says: "The USSF is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national objectives."

It doesn't exactly pop off the page for excitement. It just kind of sits there lifeless as a bag of moon dust. 

Space Force's motto is equally middling. "Semper Supra," the Latin phrase for "Always Above," is a nod to the fact that since they're way up in space, they're always above us.

Gen. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, recently said that its current mission statement — created immediately after the branch was established — is both "long and cumbersome" and "falls well short of explaining the actual mission of the Space Force.

Saltzman said the mission statement doesn't indicate why the United States has a Space Force or what its members — Guardians — actually do. Saltzman said that "organizing, training and equipping" only make up a fraction of the service's responsibilities. It also tracks missiles, acquires space-faring and exploring equipment, monitors satellite launches and their respective trajectories, and keeps an eye out for space debris in the Earth's orbit.  

Saltzman is hoping to crowd-source something better. This is exactly the same process the used when choosing the Guardian name. He believes a successful mission statement should be "informative, memorable, inclusive, and earn buy-in" from stakeholders invested in the process. Space Force staff is already working on other options but wants to hear directly from other Guardians. Saltzman did not offer any due date or when it will announce a new mission statement.