COLLECTIVE SECURITY IN SPACE
DEVELOPING AN INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED APPROACH

As an increasing number of nations use space systems to advance their social, economic, and national security interests, there is a parallel increase in attention to how best to ensure that those systems can operate free of threats of disruption. To date, that freedom has resulted from mutual self-interest in avoiding accidental or purposeful interference with space operations that are peaceful in character. But many analysts and officials around the world are coming to the recognition that more concrete positive steps and more mutual understandings may be needed to provide adequate space security for all who depend on the ability to access and use the space environment.

There has been long-standing interest on the part of several spacefaring countries in developing a treaty-based approach to the prevention of an arms race in outer space. The leading space nation, the United States, has opposed such an approach, arguing that there is no prospect of such an arms race. Nevertheless, concerns about the potential weaponization of space have increased in recent years. In the United States particularly, those fears have led to the emergence of a community of analysts and non-governmental actors who point out that there are many alternatives to space weaponization for allowing the United States to achieve its space security objectives.  They argue that space security is an issue of interest to many countries and that some sort of collective approach to space security is preferable to a unilateral approach that includes the resort to space weapons.

With the financial support of the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation, the Space Policy Institute initiated a two-year project in 2006 aimed at stimulating international discussions to identify specific positive steps towards collective space security. There have been a number of suggestions, mainly originating in the United States, of approaches that might be internationally acceptable, including increased space situational awareness, various confidence-building measures, “rules of the road,” and a space code of conduct. This project aims at extending the examination of such alternatives to the broader international community of analysts and government officials. It hopes to stimulate regional discussions of space security questions in both Europe and Asia and to provide a basis for further discussions within the United States on how best to achieve overall U.S. interests in space in cooperation with other space actors.

            During 2006, the project focused its attention on European perspectives on space security. It first commissioned studies from leading European space experts and officials. Although there has been a fair amount of recent attention to security space topics in Europe, most studies to date have focused relatively narrowly on the capabilities to meet European security requirements. There has not been careful attention given to issues of global space security and to how Europe should be involved in achieving that broader objective.

            The commissioned papers were discussed at a May 15-16, 2006, Paris workshop co-hosted by the Foundation for Strategic Research, located there.  This workshop brought together leading analysts and officials from Europe, in addition to the authors of the commissioned papers.  To view the agenda for the workshop and workshop presentations, click here. The papers from the May 2006 conference will be published in early 2007.

            A similar set of activities, with a focus on Asia/Pacific countries, took place during 2007, with a workshop held in Tokyo on April 23-24. The workshop was co-organized with the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Tokyo-based Research Institute for Peace and Security.

            The project is being managed by the Space Policy Institute of George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, an organization well-versed in security space issues. Institute Director Dr. John Logsdon is supervising the project. Serving as senior project consultant is Dr. Clay Moltz of the Naval Postgraduate School, another individual quite familiar with issues of space security. Professor Kazuto Suzuki, University of Tsukuba, Japan served as a project consultant during 2007.

Further information on the “Collective Security in Space” project is available by contacting Dr. Logsdon at logsdon@gwu.edu.

  This current project builds on the efforts from 2001-2005 of the Space Policy Institute and GW’s Security Policy Program on issues of space weaponization and space security. The results of the initial years of that activity are available in two publications: John Logsdon and Gordon Adams, "Space Weapons: Are they Needed?" (2003) and John M. Logsdon and Audrey M. Schaffer, eds., "Perspectives on Space Security" (2005). To obtain a copy of one or both of these publications, click here.