Commentary In 2018, President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to create a sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, now known as the U.S. Space Force, which was formally established in December 2019. Though some have poked fun at the new military branch after it recently revealed that its troops would be called “Guardians,” the circumstances necessitating our Space Force are no laughing matter—the president’s directive was pursuant to a growing threat posed by two of America’s adversaries. China and Russia are already formidable enemies of the United States. But China, in particular, has methodically taken meaningful steps in its acceleration toward countering U.S. military and economic dominance on the global stage. Dethroning the United States as the world’s prevailing superpower has long been an ambition of communist China. And, over the last decade they’ve stepped up efforts to bring this dream to fruition prior to …