Department of the Air Force, should work directly for President Donald Trump to lead development of the new service.

Some also deliver an indictment of the Air Force for tanking Kwast's career, and contain pointed criticisms of the way the Air Force has handled the space portfolio for decades.

"The Air Force has failed to provide the nation with the strategy, technology and systems needed to confront today's growing threat," Henry Cooper, chairman of High Frontier, an organization that advocates for a stronger U.S. missile and space defense, wrote in an op-ed published in conservative site Newsmax. Cooper was President Ronald Reagan's chief negotiator at the Geneva Defense and Space Talks.

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"To demonstrate that 'No good deed goes unpunished,' General Kwast was recently prematurely relieved from his command -- afteronly half of the usual tour for this important position responsible for educating and training future Air Force leaders," Cooper continued. "This opposition is prominent in the public discourse, reflecting hostile positions taken by then-Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson when the president first signaled his initiative."

Kwast's supporters say he was "blacklisted" for promotion, and his career essentially ended, because of his refusal to comply with a service-wide gag order regarding space issues. Air Force officials maintain his career came to a natural conclusion and that he wasn't relieved prematurely. Kwast himself wouldn't address the rumors when asked about them by Military.com.

The op-ed campaign tactic has raised eyebrows -- inside and outside the Pentagon -- because it's rare for people to advocate so openly for top military