Whoever gets into space first ("properly") will dominate it. That's a fact. I can see why the .gov or .mil would want to secure that for the USA.
What's worrying is that it seems to be an automatic assumption on their part that the 4.5% of humanity represented by the American people are somehow by default entitled to not only the majority of consumable resources on the planet, but also to the only chance of developing to the next ecological level that any of us have.
And if anyone tries to compete, says the airforce, we'll smack them down. They won't mind.
I recognise the ecological drive behind it, but I don't see how "screw you all, we're the future of this species" can be justified as a civilised human philosophy.