The U.S. Space Force has adopted a new mission statement designed to better represent the role of Guardians in military operations.
The statement – “secure our Nation’s interests in, from and to space” – was created using suggestions and feedback from individual Guardians and teams, the Space Force announced on Thursday.
“We did not hire a corporate marketing team to develop a catch phrase. Nor did generals sit around a table in the Pentagon debating what the statement should be,” said Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, a 2023 Wash100 Award winner.
Using a “Guardian-driven process,” Saltzman requested input from members of the service branch and collected 135 responses within two weeks of the May announcement. In July, officer, enlisted and civilian Guardians from across four field commands and major commands came together to offer feedback and rework the statement in a series of eight focus groups.
“Our mission statement is a call to action that concisely encapsulates our purpose and identity as Guardians and members of the profession of arms,” said Saltzman.
Each segment of the statement was selected to highlight an element of the Space Force mission.
The use of “secure” in the statement represents the Space Force’s initial purpose to contest and, if necessary, control the space domain for the U.S. “Our Nation’s interests” references Guardians’ goal to secure space and harness the benefits it can bring to American life.
Three core functions of the Space Force — superiority efforts in the domain, global mission operations enabled by space-based technology and space access assurance — are reflected in the “in, from and to space” portion of the statement.
