In August of 2018, Vice President Mike Pence announced the establishment of the eighth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Space Force, in a speech at the Pentagon. This was the first time in 70 years that a new branch would be added, aimed at putting the United States at the forefront of space exploration and strategic imperative. As noted by the Military Times, Space Force was initiated to be tasked with providing “space expertise to combatant commanders,” as well as to be “composed of personnel from all services, with experts in operations, intelligence, engineering … prepared to deploy teams of space operators to Europe and Pacific by next summer.” Space Force aims to improve upon U.S. counterintelligence as a whole.