Tommy talks with defense expert Katherine Charlet from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about President Trump’s plan to create a Space Force!!! How much is the military currently operating in space? Is this proposal smart, necessary or a gigantic waste of taxpayer money. Listen to this episode (which includes lasers) to find out!

Show Notes:

• Washington Post: Pence details plan for creation of Space Force in what would be the sixth branch of the military
• Smithsonian.com: The US Military Has Been in Space From the Beginning
• Scientific American: Declassified: US Military’s Secret Cold War Space Project Revealed
• Cold War Museum: The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): Star Wars
• Time: Why Trump’s ‘Space Force’ Won’t — and Shouldn’t — Happen
• The Atlantic: Does the US Military Need a Space Corps?
• Time: Pentagon Chief Jim Mattis Defends His Reversal on Space Force
• The Atlantic: What Does Trump Mean By ‘Space Force’?
• Vox: Trump really, really wants troops in space
• Vice: Trump’s Space Force is a bad idea, according to former Air Force secretary
• Daily Beast: The Case for a Space Force: Thinking Big