A bipartisan group representing all U.S. governors is sounding the alarm about a looming move to transition Air National Guard units into the Space Force without approval from the affected states as efforts to reverse the decision continue in Congress.
In a new statement published Tuesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Governors Association, decried Legislative Proposal 480, a plan for Space Force to take control of some state Air National Guard units. Polis and Stitt warned that the service is moving quickly to sidestep state governors by taking control of those units possibly as soon as this year.
“We are particularly alarmed by indications that Space Force leadership is aggressively pushing a plan to fully implement Legislative Proposal 480 (LP 480) and remove units from states by the end of the year,” the National Governors Association statement said. “There has still been no formal notification to, coordination with, or consent obtained from the impacted states.”
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The governors’ warning that the active-duty Space Force could be moving quickly to take control of space-focused Air National Guard units found in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio follows a recent effort in Congress to create a Space National Guard and overturn Legislative Proposal 480.
The proposal, authored last year under former President Joe Biden’s administration and first reported on by Military.com, would transfer Air National Guard units with space missions into the active-duty Space Force by seeking exemptions from existing laws that require state governors to approve such a move. It was ultimately signed into law as part of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
“Governors must be part of the conversation from the start, as has been the precedent for over 120 years,” the National Governors Association statement said. “We were alarmed when the prior administration pursued this course of action, and we remain alarmed it’s continuing to happen now.”
Spokespeople for the National Governors Association did not immediately respond to Military.com questions asking about the organization’s knowledge of the timeline for the Space Force to take over the units with space missions.
A Department of the Air Force spokesperson told Military.com that “the Space Force is planning to transfer responsibility for the covered space functions performed by the Air National Guard.”
“The Space Force, Air Force and National Guard Bureau will jointly determine the specific conditions, resource alignments, and timing for the transfer of each covered space function,” the spokesperson added. “In accordance with the law, the Space Force is not planning to relocate the missions out of the affected states.”
The original Air Force proposal was strongly condemned last year by the governors of every U.S. state and territory, a point reiterated in Tuesday’s statement.
“Governors from all 55 states and territories have repeatedly urged Congress to reject LP 480, which would reassign specified Air National Guard units to the U.S. Space Force without the legally required consent of governors,” the National Governors Association said in Tuesday’s statement. “National Guard assets are not only critical to national security and military readiness, they are also essential to a governor’s ability to respond swiftly to emergencies and natural disasters.”
Military.com also first reported last month that bipartisan groups of lawmakers submitted bills in both chambers of Congress aimed at establishing a Space National Guard, which also would explicitly dismantle the proposal to transfer those units to the Space Force. That bill was spearheaded, in part, by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
“Sen. Crapo is still leading efforts in the Senate to repeal LP 480 in the FY2026 NDAA,” Melanie Lawhorn, a spokesperson for Crapo, told Military.com on Tuesday.
That legislation may have support from the White House. Notably, on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised in August that “as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard.”
The National Guard Association of the United States, an organization that lobbies for the reserve component also known as NGAUS, has been vocal against the effort to transfer the Air National Guard space units into the active-duty Space Force, saying it would hurt staffing.
Most recently, NGAUS announced survey results last month that showed only 8% of Air National Guardsmen in space missions would be interested in transferring to the active-duty Space Force.
The Space Force, unlike other service branches, does not have a reserve component like a National Guard. The service is creating a part-time active-duty service model, the first of its kind, but officials have said they won’t start accepting applications for that until at least 2026.
Retired Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, president of NGAUS, told Military.com in an interview Tuesday that it appears the Space Force is rushing to get the transfer done before other efforts stop it.
“What’s the rush?” McGinn said. “To me, it’s a control thing too. For some reason, they don’t want to work with governors as has been seen in how they approached this thing right from the get-go.”
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