As the Trump 2.0 administration begins to take shape, one of the questions orbiting in the beltway space community is whether President-elect Trump will retain the National Space Council — a dedicated space policy coordination and oversight function within the Executive Office of the President. The National Space Council, first established by the 1958 law that created NASA, has been used intermittently by presidential administrations over the history of the space age, with its necessity and efficacy debated seemingly during every transition.
After lying dormant for almost 25 years, the first Trump administration revived the National Space Council to great fanfare within space policy circles. With Vice President Mike Pence as its chair, Trump’s National Space Council was successful in issuing numerous space directives, spearheading the administration’s push to establish the U.S. Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces and putting NASA on an ambitious path to return Americans to the moon.
The Biden administration elected to retain the National Space Council, again delighting space industry insiders who viewed the council as a way of maintaining national-level priority and attention on space. Although Biden’s National Space Council, helmed by Vice President Kamala Harris, pushed through fewer high-profile space policy initiatives, it was not without its successes. With one of its more visible priorities being to elevate international space partnerships, it cemented space cooperation with allies and partners, expanded international norms for space and gave commercial partners a seat at the table in bilateral space dialogues.
The key to these cross-administration successes, however, was not the existence of the National Space Council per se. At its core, the National Space Council itself is composed largely of the same senior administration officials that sit on other White House councils, such as the National Security Council, the National Economic Council or the Domestic Policy Council. But having a space policy coordinating function within the Executive Office of the President — and giving it the focus, staff and access to be successful — is key to whether the White House can effectively drive an ambitious space policy agenda that is part and parcel of the president’s broader foreign policy and domestic policy agenda.
One of the main benefits of having a National Space Council is its singular focus on space matters. With a senior political appointee as its Executive Secretary, the National Space Council staff — responsible for day-to-day drafting of policies and overseeing their implementation — ensures that the sprawling executive branch bureaucracy works in concert to advance the president’s space agenda. Without a team dedicated to space policy, the sheer volume of issues White House staff must tackle on a daily basis quickly crowds out any space agenda, whose successes and failures are typically measured in months or years, not the hours, days and weeks that drive activity at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Additionally, a White House space policy coordinating function must be large enough to effectively manage the many facets of space policy that rightfully deserve White House attention — from space exploration to space security, and everything in between. While there is a fine line between having a staff large enough to exercise effective oversight and a staff that is so large that it creeps into micromanagement, a staff that is too small simply will not be effective. Advancing the president’s space agenda — and ensuring that the government bureaucracy does not slide back toward the status quo — is indeed several full-time jobs.
Finally, when matters arise that require the president’s attention, the head of the White House’s space policy group must have a sure and speedy path to the president’s ear. Whether that path is through the vice president as Chair of the National Space Council or via a member of the president’s senior staff, such as the White House Chief of Staff or National Security Advisor, is not important. What is important is that this individual has the trust and confidence of the president and can access him when the need arises.
Certainly, retaining the National Space Council would be an easy and effective way for the president-elect to demonstrate his commitment to America’s space program. But many different organizational models could work, provided that any White House space coordinating function — including a National Space Council — is granted the focus, staff and access it needs. After all, in the years preceding Trump’s revival of the National Space Council during his first term, space policy was set through partnership between staff in the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
As the contours of the next Executive Office of the President come into focus, the new team should consider the most effective — and efficient — way to organize the White House for sustained space leadership. Failing to quickly establish a clear and strong White House space policy structure risks slowing the significant progress made over the past decade in maintaining U.S. leadership in space exploration, unleashing the innovation of the U.S. commercial space sector and protecting and protecting America’s significant and growing interests in space.
Audrey Schaffer is a senior associate (non-resident) at the Aerospace Security Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She was the Director for Space Policy on the National Security Council staff from 2021-2023.
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This article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.
