MINOT, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota has never been in a better position to contribute to the nation’s security, according to state Sen. Kevin Cramer, who serves as a member of the Armed Services Committee.
The state has a new unmanned aerial vehicles mission at Grand Forks; a space station at Cavalier; the intelligence and surveillance missions of the North Dakota Air National Guard in Fargo; the engineers and bridge builders in Bismarck; and the Minot Air Force Base’s nuclear missions, the Minot Daily News reported.
Nearly 4,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen are located in North Dakota.
President Trump recently signed “Space Policy Directive 4 ,” which requires the creation of a Space Force and provisionally places the new service under the Department of the Air Force.
“To me that’s the perfect strategy for the Space Force,” Cramer said during a speech last month at Minot Air Force Base. “I never really liked the idea of another branch. I always thought that Space Force belonged in the Air Force.”
Cramer has posts on three subcommittees of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Strategic Forces subcommittee has extensive authority over the nuclear forces, space programs and missile defenses, according to a news release issued in early February. Cramer said serving on this committee is a benefit to the intercontinental ballistic missile and B-52 bomber missions at Minot Air Force Base, the space research projects at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, and the 119th Air Guard “Happy Hooligans” Wing in Fargo.
The committees that he and fellow Sen. John Hoeven serve on position them well “to maximize the incredible contributions that this state makes to the security of our country,” Cramer said.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com
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