Guest:  Dr. Namrata Goswami;  Topics:  Is there a need for a US space force, China and space, national security space needs, budget issues, congress, India, the US Air Force, space mission as compared to Air Force mission and much more.

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We welcomed Dr. Namrata Goswami to the program for a riveting one segment 125 minute comprehensive discussion about US space policy, our national security space, India, Asia, China and the possible need for the US to create a separate branch of the military for a Space Force.  As you will hear, Dr. Goswami has studied Indian, Asian, and Chinese space policy by being on the scene in the different countries, meetings with local political and policy experts and the Chinese officials who she identified during our program and in her papers and published documents over recent years.  At the request of our guest, I placed her email with her reference URLs to her papers, presentations and facts which supported what she said on today's program.  You will also hear her say during the interview that she used Chinese and Asian sources to minimize misunderstandings and bad or wrong assumption making.

Our discussion was detailed, methodical and followed a presentation order that enhanced our understanding of the facts on the grounds, how our guest has used those facts to form her opinions and recommendations, and to back up her conclusions with what was actually said by President Xi of China and others in the Chinese space and PLA systems.  She also talked about some lags and missing important elements in our national security space efforts and why the overall Air Force mission which includes space would not be as good for national security space as a focused, dedicated space force dealing with only the space mission.  While some of you may disagree with the conclusions of our guest and possibly want to even challenge her facts, I urge you to listen to the full interview and review her documents that are available on the blog.  If you want to challenge her, I say go for it but you should do so with facts, not just your belief system.  In fact, this issue came up near the end of the program when a listener asked her if she had ever gone one to one with people who do not believe we need a separate space force and if so, what was the result.  She was also asked if her factual information was rebuked or what grounds were used to support a different analysis and conclusion.  Don't miss this short discussion near the end of today's program.

As I said earlier, there was no break in the show though I initially planned on this being a 90 minute two segment program.  Dr. Goswami had so much to say and so many on the scene experiences, discussions and facts to share with us, that not only did I decide to do this program without a break but to let it go slightly longer than two hours.  As the program was ending a listener question asked her if she would do a one on one Space Show debate with a qualified person with an opposing position.  She agreed to do that so I will start the process of finding someone that shares her expertise on the issues involved in national security space, Indian space policy and needs, Russia, Asia, and of course, the main player in all of this, China.  Right now I have two more guests scheduled that support a separate space force but finding someone to go one on one with Dr. Goswami for a Space Show debate on the subject is not easy.   I suspect you will agree with that statement after you hear this program.  If you have suggestions for people for me to invite as a potential debater with Dr. Goswami, please send the information to me.

I believe it would be extremely difficult to do a detailed summary of this discussion given the multitude of related topics, the sources that were used, including talks by Chinese officials, and the fact that China uses a public version of their plans for the global press and an internal version for their own planning.  You will hear Dr. Goswami address this matter during her discussion and you will learn why knowing the internal version of their policy and plans is what we need to know regarding the forming of our own national security space policy.

I hope you will listen to the full program.  Our guest was also using a Verizon cell phone which from time to time had minor audio issues. Please post your comments about this discussion on our blog and I will make sure our guest sees the comments.  We want to hear from you on this topic.  We will keep the space force discussion going and I hope to have a worth debate partner for Dr. Goswami to announce very soon.

Finally, you can reach our guest, Dr. Namrata Goswami, through me or our blog.