Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump ordered the creation of "Space Command" on Tuesday, a move the administration is labeling a precursor to creating a US Space Force.

"I direct the establishment, consistent with United States law, of United States Space Command as a functional Unified Combatant Command," Trump said in an executive memorandum to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. "I also direct the Secretary of Defense to recommend officers for my nomination and Senate confirmation as Commander and Deputy Commander of the new United States Space Command."

Two defense officials told CNN that the Pentagon is nearing completion of a draft proposal for a Space Force that would sit under the Air Force, but have many of the trappings of a separate service, resembling the Marine Corps' relationship to the Department of the Navy.

The new command is the 11th combatant command and will have control of military space operations.

Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at Cape Canaveral Tuesday, said the new space command "won't end there."

Read More</s>EnviroBuild acknowledged that the authority to name a new species is typically reserved for biologists. Bell noted that the title would have to undergo peer review, according to standards governing zoological nomenclature. But these rules have allowed for significant creative leeway, often to honour famous people. Former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld all have beetles named for them. Beyoncé's name graces a horse fly. A tree frog shares a name with Prince Charles.

The Demorphus donaldtrumpi measures nearly four inches (10 centimetres) in length. It belongs to a group of limbless amphibians called caecilians. Rainforest Trust said the remittance for the naming rights will go to protecting the creature's home in Panama, where it was recently discovered by scientists.

In the news release, Bell outlined why the name was appropriate. He footnoted his analysis elaborately. Among his sources were Trump tweets and official climate reports.

The amphibian's "rudimentary eyes," Bell wrote, can only perceive light or dark. "Capable of seeing the world only in black and white, Donald Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax by the Chinese," he noted. He also observed that the title "Caecilian" derives from the Latin caecus, meaning "blind"

The Dermophis grouping grows an extra layer of skin, he explained, which their offspring peel off with their teeth and eat. To ensure that his children "survive in life," Bell observed, "Donald Trump prefers granting them high roles in the Oval Office."

The wormlike animals live mostly underground, "believed to have lost their limbs at least 60 million years ago, as an adaptation to burrowing," Bell explained. Burying his "head underground," Bell added, "helps Donald Trump when avoiding scientific consensus on anthropomorphic climate change," as well as appointing "several energy lobbyists to the Environment Agency, where their job is to regulate the energy industry."

A sensory power in their tentacles helps caecilians find prey, a capacity that Bell likened — straining the metaphor a bit — to the many tentacles of the investigation being pursued by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Finally, it wouldn't be a Trump takedown if it didn't involve the size of his hands and the hue of his skin, though on this final point, Bell left the comparison unstated.

"Being entirely limbless it is hard to determine whether caecilians have proportionate hands and their shiny skin is ringed with skin folds called annuli, generally grey, but with other genus' often displaying more colour, even orange," he wrote.

The Dermophis donaldtrumpi is not alone among creatures bearing Trump's name.

Just before the president's inauguration last year, an article in the journal ZooKeys dubbed a blond-haired moth the "Neopalpa donaldtrumpi."

"The new species is named in honour of Donald J. Trump, to be installed as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017," wrote the author, Vazrick Nazari, an evolutionary biologist in Ottawa. "The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the US that still contain many undescribed species."

He also offered this specific rationale for the label: "The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales on the frons (head) of the moth to Mr. Trump's hairstyle."

In another case, however, the naming is in fact meant as a tribute to Trump.

In 2016, a restaurant owner, fossil hunter and author identified a new species of fossil sea urchins near Canyon Lake, in the San Antonio area. William Thompson told the San Antonio Express-News that he had chosen to name the species after Trump, his favoured presidential candidate.

The small, round fossil, he told the newspaper, "was named to honour Donald Trump. The name will become a permanent part of the scientific record." He added: "Obviously, I'm probably voting for him. I want change ... I'd love for him to change the world, or at least the politics of the United States."

A physical resemblance to Trump appeared not to factor in his decision.</s>When President Trump announced his plan to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement last year, he said he was benching the United States in the global fight against climate change because he wanted the rest of the world to stop "laughing at us."

"We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore, and they won't be," Trump vowed from a podium in the White House Rose Garden in June 2017. "They won't be."

But the name of a newly discovered amphibian species reveals just how hearty a laugh critics of the president abroad are having at his expense - and on the very issue he cited as he promised to protect American dignity.

EnviroBuild, a London-based sustainable building materials company, saw a resemblance between the serpentine creature, which is nearly blind and burrows underground, and Trump, who has called the evidence of global warming a "hoax."

EnviroBuild, which paid US$25,000 for the naming rights at an auction this month, said on Tuesday that it chose "Dermophis donaldtrumpi" in recognition of the president's position on climate change. The announcement came on the heels of a weekend agreement by climate negotiators in Poland on the rules for implementing the Paris pact, which Trump considers counter to US interests.

The naming choice highlights the president's dismal approval ratings worldwide and is clearly designed to belittle him. And yet, it is further evidence that so much now revolves around Trump, from "Matilda" statues to Barbra Streisand torch songs, as the former reality TV star has become a ubiquitous global symbol.

His name is everywhere, from skylines to golf courses to magazines to songs to subreddits to a restaurant in Iraq. On Wikipedia, there is a list of things named after Donald Trump. Does it matter whether the individual items are favorable so long as the list keeps growing?

Still, the symbolism invoked by the British company, whose stunt gave the list its newest entry, has a more serious message. It is meant to call attention to the dire, real-world consequences of Trump's refusal to recognize environmental catastrophe, which scientists say could arrive as early as 2040.

"Realizing the similarities between the amazing but unknown creature and the leader of the free world, we couldn't resist buying the rights in your president's honor," Aidan Bell, EnviroBuild's co-founder, told The Washington Post.

The firm added a mop of blond hair to an image of an amphibian in the same family as the wormlike species to emphasize the visual likeness.

As an amphibian, the company noted in a news release, the Dermophis donaldtrumpi is especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change and is "therefore in danger of becoming extinct as a direct result of its namesake's climate policies."

The naming rights went up for sale December 8 at a "Species Legacy Auction" sponsored by Rainforest Trust, a Virginia-based conservation nonprofit organization that called the event "the largest species-naming auction in history."

The privilege of naming the "unusual wormlike" species, the trust said, drew the highest bid of any item in the auction, the proceeds of which benefited wildlife conservation.

"We saw this under-loved amphibian and thought we could make some fairly cheap jokes about a public figure crawling on their belly," Bell said.

Despairing that the results of climate talks in Poland were insufficiently bold, and realizing that singling out a British figure "would risk hurting our sales too much," he explained, "we decided Trump was the answer."

EnviroBuild acknowledged that the authority to name a new species is typically reserved for biologists. Bell noted that the title would have to undergo peer review, according to standards governing zoological nomenclature.

But these rules have allowed for significant creative leeway, often to honor famous people. Former president George W. Bush, former vice president Richard B. Cheney and former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld all have beetles named for them. Beyonce's name graces a horse fly. A tree frog shares a name with Prince Charles.

The Dermophis donaldtrumpi measures 10 centimeters (nearly four inches) in length, according to EnviroBuild. It belongs to a group of limbless amphibians called caecilians. Rainforest Trust said the remittance for the naming rights will go to protecting the creature's home in Panama, where scientists recently discovered it.

In the news release, Bell outlined why the name is appropriate. He footnoted his analysis elaborately. Among his sources were Trump tweets and official climate reports.

The amphibian's "rudimentary eyes," Bell wrote, can perceive only light or dark. "Capable of seeing the world only in black and white, Donald Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax by the Chinese," he noted. He also observed that the title "Caecilian" derives from the Latin caecus, meaning "blind."

The Dermophis grouping grows an extra layer of skin, he explained, which their offspring peel off with their teeth and eat. To ensure that his children "survive in life," Bell observed, "Donald Trump prefers granting them high roles in the Oval Office."

The wormlike animals live mostly underground, "believed to have lost their limbs at least 60 million years ago, as an adaptation to burrowing," Bell explained.

Burying his "head underground," he added, "helps Donald Trump when avoiding scientific consensus on anthropomorphic climate change," as well as appointing "several energy lobbyists to the Environment Agency, where their job is to regulate the energy industry."

A sensory power in their tentacles helps caecilians find prey, a capacity that Bell likened - straining the metaphor a bit - to the many tentacles of the investigation being pursued by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Finally, it wouldn't be a Trump takedown if it didn't involve the size of his hands and the hue of his skin, although on this final point, Bell left the comparison unstated.

"Being entirely limbless it is hard to determine whether caecilians have proportionate hands and their shiny skin is ringed with skin folds called annuli, generally grey, but with other genus' often displaying more colour, even orange," he wrote.

The Dermophis donaldtrumpi is not alone among creatures bearing Trump's name.

Just before the president's inauguration last year, an article in the journal ZooKeys dubbed a blond-haired moth the "Neopalpa donaldtrumpi."

"The new species is named in honor of Donald J. Trump, to be installed as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017," wrote the author, Vazrick Nazari, an evolutionary biologist in Ottawa.

"The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the US that still contain many undescribed species."

He also offered this specific rationale for the label: "The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales on the frons (head) of the moth to Mr. Trump's hairstyle."

In another case, however, the naming is in fact meant as a tribute to Trump.

In 2016, a restaurant owner, fossil hunter and author identified a new species of fossil sea urchins near Canyon Lake, in the San Antonio area. William Thompson told the San Antonio Express-News that he had chosen to name the species after Trump, his favored presidential candidate.

The small, round fossil, he told the newspaper, "was named to honor Donald Trump. The name will become a permanent part of the scientific record." He added: "Obviously, I'm probably voting for him. I want change. . . . I'd love for him to change the world, or at least the politics of the United States."

A physical resemblance to Trump appeared not to factor into his decision.

This article was originally published by The Washington Post.</s>When U.S. President Donald Trump announced his plan to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement last year, he said he was benching the United States in the global fight against climate change because he wanted the rest of the world to stop “laughing at us.” “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore, and they won’t be,” Trump vowed from a podium in the White House Rose Garden in June 2017. “They won’t be.”

But the name of a new amphibian species reveals just how hearty a laugh critics of the president abroad are having at his expense — and on the very issue where he promised to protect American dignity. A London-based sustainable building materials company, EnviroBuild, saw a resemblance between the serpentine creature, which is nearly blind and burrows underground, and Trump, who has called the evidence of global warming a “hoax.” EnviroBuild, which paid $25,000 (U.S.) for the naming rights at an auction this month, said on Tuesday that it had chosen “Dermophis donaldtrumpi” in recognition of the president’s position on climate change. The announcement came on the heels of a weekend agreement by climate negotiators in Poland on the rules for implementing the Paris pact, which Trump sees as counter to U.S. national interests. The naming choice highlights the president’s dismal approval rating around the world, and is clearly designed to belittle him. And yet, it is further evidence that nearly everything now revolves around Trump, from “Matilda” statues to Barbra Streisand torch songs, as the former reality TV star has become a capacious global symbol. His name is everywhere, from skylines to golf courses to magazines to songs to subreddits to a restaurant in Iraq. On Wikipedia, there is a “List of things named after Donald Trump” — does it matter whether the individual items are favourable so long as the list keeps growing?

“Realizing the similarities between the amazing but unknown creature and the leader of the free world, we couldn’t resist buying the rights in your president’s honour,” Aidan Bell, EnviroBuild’s co-founder told The Washington Post. The firm added a mop of blond hair to an image of an amphibian in the same family as the snake- or wormlike species to emphasize the visual likeness. As an amphibian, the company noted in a news release, the Dermophis donaldtrumpi is especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change and is “therefore in danger of becoming extinct as a direct result of its namesake’s climate policies.”

“We saw this underloved amphibian and thought we could make some fairly cheap jokes about a public figure crawling on their belly,” Bell said. Realizing that singling out a British figure “would risk hurting our sales too much,” and despairing that the results of climate talks in Poland were insufficiently bold, he explained, “we decided Trump was the answer.” EnviroBuild acknowledged that the authority to name a new species is typically reserved for biologists. Bell noted that the title would have to undergo peer review, according to standards governing zoological nomenclature. But these rules have allowed for significant creative leeway, often to honour famous people. Former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld all have beetles named for them. Beyonce’s name graces a horse fly. A tree frog shares a name with Prince Charles. The Demorphus donaldtrumpi measures nearly four inches (10 centimetres) in length. It belongs to a group of limbless amphibians called caecilians. Rainforest Trust said the remittance for the naming rights will go to protecting the creature’s home in Panama, where it was recently discovered by scientists. In the news release, Bell outlined why the name was appropriate. He footnoted his analysis elaborately. Among his sources were Trump tweets and official climate reports. The amphibian’s “rudimentary eyes,” Bell wrote, can only perceive light or dark. “Capable of seeing the world only in black and white, Donald Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax by the Chinese,” he noted. He also observed that the title “Caecilian” derives from the Latin caecus, meaning “blind” The Dermophis grouping grows an extra layer of skin, he explained, which their offspring peel off with their teeth and eat. To ensure that his children “survive in life,” Bell observed, “Donald Trump prefers granting them high roles in the Oval Office.” The wormlike animals live mostly underground, “believed to have lost their limbs at least 60 million years ago, as an adaptation to burrowing,” Bell explained. Burying his “head underground,” Bell added, “helps Donald Trump when avoiding scientific consensus on anthropomorphic climate change,” as well as appointing “several energy lobbyists to the Environment Agency, where their job is to regulate the energy industry.” A sensory power in their tentacles helps caecilians find prey, a capacity that Bell likened — straining the metaphor a bit — to the many tentacles of the investigation being pursued by special counsel Robert Mueller. Finally, it wouldn’t be a Trump takedown if it didn’t involve the size of his hands and the hue of his skin, though on this final point, Bell left the comparison unstated. “Being entirely limbless it is hard to determine whether caecilians have proportionate hands and their shiny skin is ringed with skin folds called annuli, generally grey, but with other genus’ often displaying more colour, even orange,” he wrote. The Dermophis donaldtrumpi is not alone among creatures bearing Trump’s name. Just before the president’s inauguration last year, an article in the journal ZooKeys dubbed a blond-haired moth the “Neopalpa donaldtrumpi.” “The new species is named in honour of Donald J. Trump, to be installed as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017,” wrote the author, Vazrick Nazari, an evolutionary biologist in Ottawa. “The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the US that still contain many undescribed species.” He also offered this specific rationale for the label: “The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales on the frons (head) of the moth to Mr. Trump’s hairstyle.” In another case, however, the naming is in fact meant as a tribute to Trump. In 2016, a restaurant owner, fossil hunter and author identified a new species of fossil sea urchins near Canyon Lake, in the San Antonio area. William Thompson told the San Antonio Express-News that he had chosen to name the species after Trump, his favoured presidential candidate. The small, round fossil, he told the newspaper, “was named to honour Donald Trump. The name will become a permanent part of the scientific record.” He added: “Obviously, I’m probably voting for him. I want change ... I’d love for him to change the world, or at least the politics of the United States.” A physical resemblance to Trump appeared not to factor in his decision.</s>When President Trump announced his plan to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement last year, he said he was benching the United States in the global fight against climate change because he wanted the rest of the world to stop “laughing at us.”

“We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore, and they won’t be,” Trump vowed from a podium in the White House Rose Garden in June 2017. “They won’t be.”

But the name of a newly discovered amphibian species reveals just how hearty a laugh critics of the president abroad are having at his expense — and on the very issue he cited as he promised to protect American dignity.

A London-based sustainable building materials company, EnviroBuild, saw a resemblance between the serpentine creature, which is nearly blind and burrows underground, and Trump, who has called the evidence of global warming a “hoax.” EnviroBuild, which paid $25,000 for the naming rights at an auction this month, said on Tuesday that it chose “Dermophis donaldtrumpi” in recognition of the president’s position on climate change. The announcement came on the heels of a weekend agreement by climate negotiators in Poland on the rules for implementing the Paris pact, which Trump sees as counter to U.S. national interests.

The naming choice highlights the president’s dismal approval ratings around the world and is clearly designed to belittle him. And yet, it is further evidence that nearly everything now revolves around Trump, from “Matilda” statues to Barbra Streisand torch songs, as the former reality TV star has become a ubiquitous global symbol. His name is everywhere, from skylines to golf courses to magazines to songs to subreddits to a restaurant in Iraq. On Wikipedia, there is a “List of things named after Donald Trump” — does it matter whether the individual items are favorable so long as the list keeps growing?

Still, the symbolism invoked by the British company, whose stunt gave the list its newest entry, has a more serious message. It is meant to call attention to the dire, real-world consequences of Trump’s refusal to recognize environmental catastrophe, which scientists say could arrive as early as 2040.

“Realizing the similarities between the amazing but unknown creature and the leader of the free world, we couldn’t resist buying the rights in your president’s honor,” Aidan Bell, EnviroBuild’s co-founder, told The Washington Post. The firm added a mop of blond hair to an image of an amphibian in the same family as the wormlike species to emphasize the visual likeness.

As an amphibian, the company noted in a news release, the Dermophis donaldtrumpi is especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change and is “therefore in danger of becoming extinct as a direct result of its namesake’s climate policies.”

The naming rights went up for sale Dec. 8 at a “Species Legacy Auction” sponsored by Rainforest Trust, a Virginia-based conservation nonprofit that called the event “the largest species-naming auction in history.” The privilege of naming the “unusual wormlike” species, the trust said, drew the highest bid of any item in the auction, the proceeds of which benefited wildlife conservation.

“We saw this underloved amphibian and thought we could make some fairly cheap jokes about a public figure crawling on their belly,” Bell said. Despairing that the results of climate talks in Poland were insufficiently bold, and realizing that singling out a British figure “would risk hurting our sales too much,” he explained, “we decided Trump was the answer.”

EnviroBuild acknowledged that the authority to name a new species is typically reserved for biologists. Bell noted that the title would have to undergo peer review, according to standards governing zoological nomenclature. But these rules have allowed for significant creative leeway, often to honor famous people. Former president George W. Bush, former vice president Richard B. Cheney and former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld all have beetles named for them. Beyonce’s name graces a horse fly. A tree frog shares a name with Prince Charles.

The Dermophis donaldtrumpi measures 10 centimeters (nearly four inches) in length. It belongs to a group of limbless amphibians called caecilians. Rainforest Trust said the remittance for the naming rights will go to protecting the creature’s home in Panama, where it was recently discovered by scientists.

In the news release, Bell outlined why the name was appropriate. He footnoted his analysis elaborately. Among his sources were Trump tweets and official climate reports.

The amphibian’s “rudimentary eyes,” Bell wrote, can perceive only light or dark. “Capable of seeing the world only in black and white, Donald Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax by the Chinese,” he noted. He also observed that the title “Caecilian” derives from the Latin caecus, meaning “blind"

The Dermophis grouping grows an extra layer of skin, he explained, which their offspring peel off with their teeth and eat. To ensure that his children “survive in life,” Bell observed, “Donald Trump prefers granting them high roles in the Oval Office.”

The wormlike animals live mostly underground, “believed to have lost their limbs at least 60 million years ago, as an adaptation to burrowing,” Bell explained. Burying his “head underground,” Bell added, “helps Donald Trump when avoiding scientific consensus on anthropomorphic climate change,” as well as appointing “several energy lobbyists to the Environment Agency, where their job is to regulate the energy industry.”

A sensory power in their tentacles helps caecilians find prey, a capacity that Bell likened — straining the metaphor a bit — to the many tentacles of the investigation being pursued by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a Trump takedown if it didn’t involve the size of his hands and the hue of his skin, though on this final point, Bell left the comparison unstated.

“Being entirely limbless it is hard to determine whether caecilians have proportionate hands and their shiny skin is ringed with skin folds called annuli, generally grey, but with other genus’ often displaying more colour, even orange,” he wrote.

The Dermophis donaldtrumpi is not alone among creatures bearing Trump’s name.

Just before the president’s inauguration last year, an article in the journal ZooKeys dubbed a blond-haired moth the “Neopalpa donaldtrumpi.”

“The new species is named in honor of Donald J. Trump, to be installed as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017,” wrote the author, Vazrick Nazari, an evolutionary biologist in Ottawa. “The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the US that still contain many undescribed species.”

He also offered this specific rationale for the label: “The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales on the frons (head) of the moth to Mr. Trump’s hairstyle.”

In another case, however, the naming is in fact meant as a tribute to Trump.

In 2016, a restaurant owner, fossil hunter and author identified a new species of fossil sea urchins near Canyon Lake, in the San Antonio area. William Thompson told the San Antonio Express-News that he had chosen to name the species after Trump, his favored presidential candidate.

The small, round fossil, he told the newspaper, “was named to honor Donald Trump. The name will become a permanent part of the scientific record.” He added: “Obviously, I’m probably voting for him. I want change. . . . I’d love for him to change the world, or at least the politics of the United States."

A physical resemblance to Trump appeared not to factor in his decision.</s>President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order re-creating a U.S. Space Command, which previously existed prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. All the previous space-related responsibilities assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command will be assigned to the Space Command. Vice President Mike Pence is due to make the announcement at Kennedy Space Center. The Trump order is separate from his goal of creating an independent armed service branch called the Space Force.

Have breaking news sent to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Bulletin emails. Sign up here.</s>(CNN) — President Donald Trump ordered the creation of “Space Command” on Tuesday, a move the administration is labeling a precursor to creating a US Space Force.

“I direct the establishment, consistent with United States law, of United States Space Command as a functional Unified Combatant Command,” Trump said in an executive memorandum to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. “I also direct the Secretary of Defense to recommend officers for my nomination and Senate confirmation as Commander and Deputy Commander of the new United States Space Command.”

Two defense officials told CNN that the Pentagon is nearing completion of a draft proposal for a Space Force that would sit under the Air Force, but have many of the trappings of a separate service, resembling the Marine Corps’ relationship to the Department of the Navy.

The new command is the 11th combatant command and will have control of military space operations.

Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at Cape Canaveral Tuesday, said the new space command “won’t end there.”

Pence said “in the days ahead, President Trump will also sign a new space policy directive that will lay out our plans and our timeline to create the new sixth branch of the armed forces, the US Space Force.”

“We’re working as we speak with leaders in both parties in Congress to stand up the United States Space Force before the end of 2020,” Pence said. The vice president said the military will use the foundation provided by the Air Force, which has been “a magnificent steward of our military space capabilities” and build on that with “space professionals from every branch.”

“While we’re taking these actions to ensure our nation’s security, and our future, we’ll be following the very best traditions of the past,” Pence said.

The new Space Command will be only the 11th combined combatant command, joining the ranks of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, and Special Operations Command, which oversees elite troops known as Special Operations Forces.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva are expected to brief key members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and Defense appropriations subcommittees, according to a defense official familiar with the announcement.

The White House announcement said Mattis will provide Trump with nominations for the commander and deputy commander of Space Command and that the new command “will strengthen” space operations while also helping to “streamline command and control of time-sensitive operations” and “consolidate space operations under a single authority.”

A Pentagon report released in August said the new command will “improve and evolve space warfighting,” focusing on doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures, making it akin to Special Operations Command, which provides a similar function for US Special Operations Forces, such as US Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces.

“This new command structure for the physical domain of space, led by a four-star flag officer, will establish unified command and control for our Space Force operations, ensure integration across the military, and develop the space warfighting doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures of the future,” Pence said during a visit to the Pentagon in August.

Officials told CNN that Mattis will send a letter to House and Senate Armed Services Committee asking them to repeal a provision in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act which establishes Space Command as a sub-unified command underneath Strategic Command. Trump’s direction will skip this step, elevating it to the same level as Strategic Command.</s>President Donald Trump launched the Pentagon's new Space Command Tuesday, an effort to better organize and advance the military's vast operations in space that could cost as much as $800 million over the next five years.

Trump signed a one-page memorandum Tuesday authorizing the Department of Defense to create the new command.

The goal is to set up a command to oversee and organize space operations, accelerate technical advances and find more effective ways to defend U.S. assets in space, including the vast constellations of satellites that American forces rely on for navigation, communications and surveillance. The move comes amid growing concerns that China and Russia are working on ways to disrupt, disable or even destroy U.S. satellites.

The new order is separate from the president's much touted goal of creating a "Space Force" as an independent armed service branch, but is considered a first step in that direction. The memo provides little detail on what will be a long and complicated process as the Defense Department begins to pull together various space units from across the military services into a more coordinated, independent organization.

According to one U.S. official, the command would pull about 600 staff from existing military space offices, and then add at least another 1,000 over the coming years. The roughly $800 million would mainly cover the additional staff. The costs for the existing staff would just transfer to the new command, but that total was not immediately available.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations not yet announced.

Army Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, spokesman for Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, said that establishing Space Command is "a critical step in accelerating our space capabilities and posture to defend our vital national interests and deter our adversaries. This combatant command will lead space operations and develop space warfighting doctrine, tactics, and techniques."

He added that the Pentagon will continue to develop a legislative proposal to meet the president's vision for a space force.

The first steps next year will be to nominate top leaders for Space Command, including a four-star general and a deputy. The command would likely at least begin to take form in Colorado, where the current Joint Functional Component Command for Space is already located. But there has been no final decision on a location for the new command.

Funding for the command will be included in the budget for fiscal year 2020, which will be unveiled in February.

Trump's order accelerates what has been a decades-long effort to reorganize and improve the military's technological advances in space, which at times has gotten less attention as the Air Force has focused on warplanes and other combat priorities.

The military's role in space has been under scrutiny because the United States is increasingly reliant on orbiting satellites that are difficult to protect. Satellites provide communications, navigation, intelligence and other services vital to the military and the national economy.

Over the past year, the issue gained urgency amid growing competition and threats from adversary nations.

U.S. intelligence agencies reported earlier this year that Russia and China were pursuing "nondestructive and destructive" anti-satellite weapons for use during a future war. And there are growing worries about cyberattacks that could target satellite technology, potentially leaving troops in combat without electronic communications or navigation abilities.

A U.S. Space Command existed from 1985 to 2002, but was disbanded in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks so that U.S. Northern Command could be established, focusing on defense of the homeland.

Although Space Command went away, its functions remained and were absorbed by U.S. Strategic Command. The Air Force retained its lead role in space through Air Force Space Command. That existing space command will be a key component of the new joint entity, raising space to the same status as other headquarters such as U.S. Cyber Command, Special Operations Command or Strategic Command.

The new Space Command will also pull from existing units in the other services, such as the Army Space and Missile Command and the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

Officials said the process of breaking away parts of other organizations and molding them all into a new command will be done carefully, to ensure it's done correctly without jeopardizing any ongoing operations or activities.</s>President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order before the end of the year creating a US Space Command as a major military command.

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order before the end of the year creating a US Space Command as a major military command.

Vice President Mike Pence will make the announcement on Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Centre, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, officials said, and President Trump could sign the order as soon as Tuesday.

The move is separate from President Trump’s goal of creating a “Space Force” as an independent armed service branch, but could be a step in that direction.

The US Air Force’s existing Space Command would be a key component of the new joint entity, raising space to the same status as US Cyber Command.

According to US officials, Vice President Pence will be at the Pentagon on Tuesday and will meet with the Joint Chiefs.

Space Command is expected to be among the issues discussed.

The move would actually recreate a US Space Command, which existed from 1985 to 2002.

It was disbanded in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks so that US Northern Command could be established, focusing on defence of the homeland.

Although Space Command went away, its functions did not. They were absorbed by US Strategic Command, and the Air Force retained its lead role in space through Air Force Space Command.</s>WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the creation of “Space Command,” a new organizational structure within the Pentagon that will have overall control of military space operations.

The command will be separate from Trump’s goal to build an entirely new branch of the military called “Space Force” — but could be a step in that direction.

“I direct the establishment, consistent with United States law, of United States Space Command as a functional Unified Combatant Command,” Trump said in a memo to Defense Secretary Defense Jim Mattis.

Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Cape Canaveral, Vice President Mike Pence said the new US Space Command will integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military.

“It will develop the space doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures that will enable our war fighters to defend our nation in this new era,” Pence said.

SpaceCom, as it will inevitably come to be known, will be the Pentagon’s 11th combatant command, along with other well-known commands including Central Command and Europe Command.

Trump in June said he wanted to create a “Space Force,” which would be an entirely new branch of the military alongside the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force.

He insists such a move is necessary to tackle vulnerabilities in space and assert US dominance in orbit.

But its creation is not a done deal, as it needs to be approved by Congress, and the concept has met with some skepticism from lawmakers and defense officials wary of the cost and added bureaucracy.

The creation of a new Space Force would also set off a turf war within the Pentagon, particularly with the Air Force, which currently is responsible for most space operations.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive memorandum to re-establish the United States Space Command.