In June 2017, the United States House Committee on Armed Services (HASC) voted to include language creating the U.S. Space Corps in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. The new service would be administered by the United States Secretary of the Air Force, much as how the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy, and guarantee it an equal seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A provision in the House version of the 2018 U.S. defense budget requested the creation of the Space Corps.

The United States Space Force (USSF) is a proposed sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces intended to have control over military operations in outer space. It would absorb the operations and duties of the Air Force Space Command, a major command of the United States Air Force that currently handles and supports most of the country's military operations in space.

In 2017, the National Security Strategy cited the protection of space infrastructure as one of The Pentagon's top priorities.A report by the United States Intelligence Community in February 2018 warned that Russia's and China's anti-satellite weapons could shoot down American satellites within two or three years, endangering the country's navigation, communications, and reconnaissance networks.