When Colorado Air National Guard members deployed in the wake of the coup in Niger during late 2023 to help deny enemy communications as part of the 138th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron, they brought their civilian expertise with them.
“They were able to write code to get past some of the challenges that we were experiencing on the battlefield, as well as solve some of the complex orbitology and physics problems,” explained Lt. Col. Andy Gold, the former squadron commander who led the team of 17 over seven months in Niger.
Gold and the current squadron commander, Lt. Col. Matthew Friedell, both fear the expertise that guardsmen who work for companies like Lockheed Martin, Sierra Space and L3Harris will be lost if space-focused missions housed in the National Guard are transferred to the active-duty Space Force.
The 138th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron housed at Peterson Space Force Base is one of seven specifically called out in the 2025 federal law as a unit that will be transferred.
Friedell said only about 10% of the 100 people in the unit are interested in transferring. Most of the group, about 80 airmen, are part-time and most are not interested in leaving their civilian careers.
“That’s going to create a massive capability gap,” Friedell said.
Surveys show that similarly low numbers of guardsmen with space missions across the 14 units in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio are interested in transferring.
It’s an argument the National Guard Association of the U.S. has been making for several years. The group has been fighting for a dedicated Space National Guard for the 14 units left behind when President Donald Trump created the Space Force five years ago.
The other alternative is for the Space Force to absorb the missions of those units under a new model that would allow for guardians to work part-time for the Space Force. It’s the option that’s currently moving forward, despite protests from the National Governors’ Association that the Air Force is violating federal law by not working with states on the transfer.
The units cannot stay as they are because the Air Force is no longer responsible for training and equipping them.
Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said Thursday at an event hosted by Politico that planning to incorporate space-focused Air National Guard missions into the active duty was underway.
“We are actively pursuing where do we want our part-time work force? What kind of work do they do?” he said. Saltzman went out to describe it as an unprecedented model.
He also noted that since only 578 positions are space-focused in the Air National Guard, it would be hard to establish a stand-alone guard for such a small group of people.
House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Smith, D- Wash., agreed right before federal legislation moving seven squadrons into the Space Force was approved last year.
“The logical thing to do is to phase this out and move forward,” Smith said.
In December, the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act directed units, including the 137th Space Warning Squadron, based in Greeley, and the 138th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron, to move into the Space Force.
The National Governors Association said in a recent statement that moving the units into active duty could violate federal law because the Air Force has not worked with states on a transfer.
“There has still been no formal notification to, coordination with, or consent obtained from the impacted states. This violates federal law and undermines the principles of cooperative federalism and the essential role that governors play in maintaining the readiness of the National Guard,” the statement said.
Gov. Jared Polis, chairman of the NGS, is committed to ensuring that governors retain their long-standing and rightful authority over the National Guard, including Air National Guard Units, a statement from his office said.
“We were alarmed when the prior administration pursued this course of action, and we remain alarmed it’s continuing to happen now. We urge that any transfers cease immediately and that there be direct and open engagement with governors,” Polis and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in the joint statement.
The Department of the Air Force said in a statement they are simply implementing the most recently passed National Defense Authorization Act.
“A team, including representatives from the Space Force, Air Force and Air National Guard are building plans for this mission authority transfer,” the statement said.
The statement noted that no funds are needed at this time to transfer the mission.
But the National Guard Association of the U.S expects a significant investment will be needed. The association estimates that retraining costs could reach $221 million and it could take seven to 10 years to rebuild the units. Other costs, such as new infrastructure could also be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Recruiting could be particularly difficult when many qualified candidates are expected to remain in the National Guard and get retrained on new missions, said Retired Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, who is now the president of the association.
McGinn also noted that before his reelection, Trump committed to creating a new Space National Guard during the association’s conference last year.
“We feel they’re going against the current administration and using the shift in the new secretary coming in to try to pursue Biden’s agenda in the midst of the Trump administration,” McGinn said.
The Senate confirmed Troy Meink as the new secretary of the Air Force last week.
While space has been a signature issue for Trump after he created the Space Force more than five years ago, the Space National Guard has enjoyed broad bipartisan support.
Sens. Mike Crapo, R- Idaho, and John Hickenlooper, D- Colo., introducing legislation in March to create the reserve branch for the Space Force. Reps. Jason Crow, D- Aurora, and Lauren Boebert, R- Windsor, have introduced a similar bill in the House.
In the meantime, Gold and Friedell said they haven’t noticed any evidence of a transfer and have worked to keep the 138th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron focused on its mission in an area that is rapidly evolving.
“We’re not wavering in our focus on our nation’s defense and our support to our communities,” Gold said.
© 2025 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Visit www.gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
