Space Force ‘actively’ reviewing programs to potentially reduce secrecy: CSO Saltzman

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman. (US Air Force photo by Andy Morataya)

AFA 2023 — The Space Force is in the process of reviewing the classification level for each of its programs, in the hopes of clearing away at least some the secrecy that commanders long have complained make it more difficult for the service to do its job, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said Tuesday.

“The problem is that sometimes we classified things so early in the life cycle. … We’ve protected very conservatively early on. Procedurally, then, we kind of carry that classification through to operational systems. That’s a problem that we can fix,” he told reporters at the annual Air and Space Force Association conference.

“So, what we’re doing is we’re actively going in and looking at the programs as they go through the life cycle, and then revisiting the security classification before a system goes operational. We go: ‘What do we really need to protect here and for what reason?’ rather than just saying all of the premises that were made, all the assumptions that were made 10 years ago are still valid,” he said.

A who’s-who list of top brass, members of Congress, industry leaders and Pentagon watchdogs for many years have been arguing that over-classification is harming cooperation with industry and foreign partners. Further, many senior military space leaders, such as former Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chair John Hyten, have vociferously argued that it is impossible to deter the hostile use of space by adversaries with invisible weapons.

Saltzman cautioned, however, that the Space Force is unlikely to flip the current situation on its head anytime soon.

“I think what everybody wants is to go from ‘eat before reading’ classification to unclassified. That’s not really what we’re talking about. There’s several different layers of declassification that we’ve talked about, so it is all a part of the spectrum of discussion. We want to do it for the right reasons,” he said.

In his mind, Saltzman said, the two key reasons for maintaining high levels of secrecy: one is “where information is perishable;” the second is when revealing information “demonstrates vulnerabilities” of the force.