Grant will Establish the Security Space Forum to Educate Space Specialists and National Security Experts on Space Security Issues

WASHINGTON – The John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation has awarded The George Washington University Space Policy Institute and the Security Policy Program, both part of the Elliott School of International Affairs, a two-year, $200,000 grant to establish a Security Space Forum. 

“The national security uses of space are an important emerging topic on the national security agenda,” said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute and professor in the Elliott School. “The goal of the Security Space Forum is to bring together both space specialists and national security generalists in order to educate each other on space security issues.” 

Logsdon added that the Washington, D.C., location is ideal for drawing together specialists in military space policy, national security analysts, policy-makers, researchers and the media.  Most importantly, the forum will expand the policy debate and add to the expertise of the broader national security community. 

The forum will comprise a variety of formats and agendas to help facilitate the exchange of ideas between the experts.  Luncheon discussions, already in progress, will form the centerpiece.  At each of these meetings a commissioned paper on a specific topic in national security space policy will be thoroughly discussed. 

Also on the agenda are one-day space security conferences for the late spring of

2003 and 2004, which will bring the work of the forum to a larger audience that will include other groups involved in the security space debate. These conferences will provide an overview of the “state of the debate” on space security issues and will serve as a highly visible showcase for current research and policy work on the topic. 

“Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came into office with a space agenda; it is being implemented, but little is known in the broader policy community about the implications of this agenda,” said Gordon Adams, director of the Security Policy Program and professor in the Elliott School. “This is a chance to make military space issues more visible and better understood.” 

A monograph on space security issues will be published each year.  The first

volume will draw from the best of the papers presented at forum luncheons. The Security Space Forum has already established a forum Web site, www.gwu.edu/~spi/spaceforum, featuring links to the papers commissioned to date by the forum and other papers and reports relevant to the space security debate. 

“This generous grant from the MacArthur Foundation is an important vote of confidence in the quality of work we do here,” said Harry Harding, dean of the Elliott School. “The collaborative nature of this project is typical of what we do: bring together scholars from different academic programs to investigate the linkages between their areas of research and then to draw the implications for policy.  The space policy and security policy programs are worthy of this recognition.”

Located four blocks from the White House, The George Washington University was created by an Act of Congress in 1821.  Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in the nation’s capital.  The University offers comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal arts study as well as degree programs in medicine, law, engineering, education, business/public management and international affairs. Each year, GW enrolls a diverse population of 20,000 undergraduates, graduate and professional students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 130 countries.

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