New Strategy Shows Importance of Space Domain, Lynn Says

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2011 – The Defense Department’s release last month of the first U.S. National Security Space Strategy underscores the importance of the domain and the need to properly develop it, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said today.

More than 60 years after the U.S.-Russian space race began, the space domain has become crowded and competitive, with at least 60 nations having objects in space, Lynn said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Security here.

Lynn was joined by Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley. John J. Hamre, CSIS president and CEO and a former deputy secretary of defense, moderated the discussion.

“Space is no longer the private preserve of the U.S. and Soviet Union,” Lynn said. Twenty-five years ago, the United States controlled two-thirds of the space market; today, that presence has slipped to below 40 percent, he said.

“We needed a strategy to protect space itself, and we needed a strategy to protect the space industrial base,” Lynn said.

Hamre noted that 37 U.S. senators signed a letter of concern to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Feb. 2 stating their concern that the European Union is developing a space “code of conduct” that could undermine the U.S. space presence and harm security.

To the contrary, Lynn said, proposals for the code are consistent with U.S. space strategy to promote freedom of access and require timely notification of problems in space. It also retains countries’ rights of self-defense in space, he added.

“We think this kind of voluntary code of conduct that promotes responsible behavior … should be viewed positively,” he said.

The military has used the space domain for decades for important missions with missiles, communications and weather, Donley said, but only recently came to appreciate the importance of surveying space itself and understanding what’s going on there.

“We need to improve our capacity to understand what’s going on in space,” Donley said. To do that, he explained, the United States has developed a “space fence” over the southern part of the country to catch space debris, and last year, the Air Force launched the first space-based surveillance system.

Cartwright outlined several ways to develop the space domain, such as requiring rules, or “norms,” on things such as how close spacecraft can be to others, and requiring notification of new spacecraft and any potential problems in space.

Countries “have been operating in space like no one knows it’s there,” the general said, suggesting that space could be governed similarly to the sea and air.

“Just like we did in the air, and just like we did in the oceans, you have to acknowledge what’s there,” he said.

Maintaining situational awareness in space is critical, Cartwright said. “Absent that, you’re in a very large state of ambiguity,” he added.

Also, the government has to help in improving the commercial space industry to allow for better equipment that delivers information more quickly, Cartwright said. “We have a good idea of what’s out there,” he said, “as long as you give us days to figure it out.”

As for defenses in space, Cartwright said the main thing to remember is that “if there’s going to be contested activity in space, it doesn’t mean we have to respond in space.” A large amount of U.S. space capabilities are run through ground systems, he explained.

The panelists agreed that the government needs to help the U.S. space industry by changing export laws and amending acquisition policies. Also, they said, the United States must partner with other countries in space.

“We still have the attitude that we’re going to go it alone,” Cartwright said. “We can’t afford it. We don’t fight as a single nation any more; we fight as multiple constructs. We’ve got to fight in a combined way, whether it’s sea, air or space.”

National Space Security Strategy Outlines Rules of the Road

By Gregory L. Schulte

Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2011 – Department of Defense's strategic approach to space must change. This is the message of the National Security Space Strategy recently approved by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

During the Cold War, space was the private reserve of the United States and Soviet Union. It was the "high frontier," from which we could support national defense and power projection with near impunity. Space capabilities were essential to such strategic tasks as monitoring compliance with arms control treaties and providing early warning of nuclear attack.

Today, space capabilities support a much broader range of domestic and global needs. Space systems benefit the global economy, enhance our national security, strengthen international relationships, advance scientific discovery, and improve our way of life.

Many nations have recognized the benefits derived from space, and the United States increasingly shares the domain with more and more space-faring countries -- both close allies, like France and Japan, and potential adversaries. And space is increasingly congested, competitive, and contested - challenges that we refer to as "the three C's."

U.S. policy must first adapt to increased congestion in space. There are over 1,100 active systems in orbit and an additional 21,000 pieces of debris littering the skies and posing a threat to our satellites. Radio frequency interference is also a concern, with more than 9,000 transponders relaying communications between spacecraft and the ground expected in orbit by 2015. Either radio interference or collision with a piece of debris could render a satellite useless, depriving military forces and national decision-makers of the information it collects and transmits.

Space is also the object of increased competition between nations. When the space age began, only the United States and the Soviet Union had the technology and industrial capacity to develop space capabilities. In recent years, however, growing international interest in space capabilities has spurred space industries in many more nations. The U.S. share of worldwide satellite exports has dropped from nearly two-thirds in 1997 to one-third in 2008. Eleven countries are operating 22 launch sites. More than 60 nations and government consortia currently operate satellites. In sum, the U.S. competitive advantage in space has decreased as market-entry barriers have lowered, and the U.S. technological lead is eroding in several areas as expertise among other nations increases.

America's assets in space are also increasingly contested by its rivals and adversaries. China demonstrated a direct-ascent anti-satellite capability in 2007 and is developing other capabilities to disrupt and disable satellites. Iran and others have demonstrated the ability to jam satellite signals. Our reliance on space tempts potential adversaries to see it as a vulnerability to be exploited.

To confront these challenges, the new National Security Space Strategy begins the process of outlining the rules of the road when it comes to space.

The current body of international space law resides in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) and its associated conventions. While the OST is a good departure point, a clearer definition of responsible behavior can help minimize the chances for mishaps, misperception, and mistrust in space.

Rules can help the United States minimize the chance of collisions in space, reduce unintentional radio frequency interference, maximize the use of crowded orbits, and discourage destabilizing behavior such as intentional interference with space systems in times of crisis. Rules encourage good conduct but also provide a way to hold accountable those who would engage in malign acts.

As a first step in developing rules, we are working closely with the State Department to evaluate the European Union's proposed code of conduct for the use of space and are encouraging other space-faring countries, including Russia, China, and India, to do the same. We are considering what further measures of transparency, verification, and confidence-building can enhance the stability of space. And we are working with the State Department to establish and conduct bilateral and multilateral space security dialogues with existing and emerging space-faring nations to encourage increased transparency and confidence building measures.

Rules of the road need to be accompanied by practical measures to support implementation and monitor compliance. U.S. Strategic Command, the military combatant command with responsibility for space, is already doing important work to help other countries avoid collisions by providing Space Situational Awareness services. Just as the Air Force through USSTRATCOM is the world's premier provider of global positioning data, USSTRATCOM is becoming the world's premier provider of collision warning. Fostering broader sharing of space situational awareness information to avoid collisions is a first step toward shared responsibility for the safety, stability, and security of the space domain.

(Gregory L. Shulte serves as  Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy. This article was first published Feb. 9, 2011, in "Foreign Affairs" magazine.)  This article was also sponsored by Police Technology.

National Security Space Strategy Targets Safety, Stability

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2011 – The National Security Space Strategy released today responds to the realities of a space environment that is increasingly crowded, challenging and competitive, said senior Defense Department officials.

“The National Security Space Strategy represents a significant departure from past practice,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a DOD news release issued today. “It is a pragmatic approach to maintain the advantages we derive from space while confronting the new challenges we face.”

Ambassador Gregory L. Schulte, the deputy secretary of defense for space policy, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service that this is the first national security space strategy co-signed by the secretary of defense and the director of national intelligence.

“Space has changed in fundamental ways, and that requires us to change our strategy,” Schulte said. Gates and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper “have signed a document that shows the new directions we need to go,” he added.

The 10-year strategy concludes the congressionally mandated Space Posture Review by providing strategic objectives and approaches for national security space.

The Defense Department and the intelligence community submitted an interim report to Congress in March that delayed a review of national security space policy and objectives until after the release of the U.S. National Space Policy in June.

Perhaps the strategy’s most important message, Schulte said, “is that we have to think differently about how we operate in space.”

For example, he said, “we have to think about how to encourage other countries to act responsibly in space and how the United States can provide leadership in that regard.

“Secondly,” he added, “we have to think about how we can better leverage the growing amount of foreign commercial capabilities that are now in space. And third, we need to think differently about how to deter others from attacking our space assets.”

As in the past, he said, the Defense Department must protect space capabilities to protect the warfighter, whether it’s communications, surveillance or global positioning.

“It’s space that allows our soldiers to see over the next hill,” Schulte said. “It’s space that allows us to communicate quickly. It’s space that allows us to see whether hostile missiles are launched, so we need to preserve that capability.

“Our goal is to make the peaceful use of space available to all countries,” he added, noting that the peaceful use of space includes support for critical defense capabilities.

“Space becomes critical to everything we do, and that’s why we’re worried that the environment is increasingly challenging,” Schulte said. “You have more debris in space and you have countries that are developing counterspace capabilities that can be used against us. That’s why this strategy emphasizes the need to protect our capabilities, protect our industrial base and protect the space domain itself.”

U.S. Strategic Command officials at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., are working with other countries and commercial firms to increase situational awareness in space.

“Stratcom was once in charge of delivering nuclear weapons,” Schulte said. “Stratcom is now also delivering warnings of potential collisions in space to any variety of countries because we have an interest in preventing more collisions and more debris.”

The military also must begin to consider operating in coalitions in space, he said.

“In just about every other domain -- at sea, in the air, on the ground -- we operate with allies and partners. There are good reasons to do it,” Schulte said.

Potential partners include members of NATO, whose new 10-year strategic concept issued last year “acknowledged for the first time that access to space is something you can’t take for granted,” he said.

The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is a focal point for the operational use of worldwide U.S. space forces, Schulte said, and it allows the commander of Stratcom’s joint functional component command for space to integrate space power into global military operations.

“We would like to make that into a [combined center],” Schulte said, “where we bring in our closest allies and eventually others, so that like in other domains, we can conduct combined operations.”

The 10-year National Security Space Strategy will require at least that long to implement, he said.

“You will see some early indications of it in the president’s budget for 2012, and you will see more in his budget for 2013, but ultimately what we’re trying to do is affect programs of the services, particularly the Air Force, over the longer term,” Schulte said. “We’re trying to affect how we train, we’re trying to affect how we plan, and we’re trying to affect the diplomacy we conduct with the Department of State. So I think you’ll see [the strategy] roll out in many different ways. In fact, you’re already seeing elements of it.”

On Jan. 6, Gates announced that he would use some of the efficiency savings Air Force officials identified to invest in the U.S. launch capability to help in protecting the industrial base, Schulte said.

Defense Department officials are working Australia on sharing of space situational awareness and are talking to the commercial sector about how DOD can host payloads on their satellites, he said. “And we’re looking for a whole range of activities to implement the new strategy in a budget-constrained environment,” he added

Schulte said to get DOD organized for space, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III created the Space Defense Council, to be chaired by Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley.

“The secretary and the deputy have entrusted to Secretary Donley the role of moving forward with our strategy,” he said, “and the Defense Space Council provides a forum to do that.”

This article was sponsored by Forensic Science Books.

DOD Announces the National Security Space Strategy

The Department of Defense announced today the release of the National Security Space Strategy (NSSS), signed jointly by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The strategy is derived from the National Security Strategy and the National Space Policy and outlines necessary changes to enhance national security through DoD and intelligence community activities in space.  It is the culmination of a lengthy and detailed Space Posture Review conducted in close consultation with other agencies and allies.

 “The National Security Space Strategy represents a significant departure from past practice,” said Gates.  “It is a pragmatic approach to maintain the advantages we derive from space while confronting the new challenges we face.”

The NSSS is driven by an evolving strategic environment.  Space is crucial for military operations and intelligence collection, but it is increasingly congested with satellites, orbital debris, and radiofrequency interference; contested by countries developing counterspace capabilities; and competitive with an increasing number of spacefaring countries and companies.

In implementing the strategy, the department will promote norms of behavior to bring order to a congested domain; develop international partnerships to operate in coalitions and reinforce military space capabilities; increase resiliency and pursue cross-domain solutions to fight in a degraded space environment; and improve acquisition processes to energize the space industrial base.

The NSSS will be implemented by updating guidance, plans, doctrine, programs, and operations to reflect the new strategic approach.  The department’s fiscal 2012 budget will contain initial steps toward implementing the strategy, and the department will use the coming year to lay the foundation for changes in fiscal 2013 and beyond.  The new Defense Space Council, chaired by Secretary of the Air Force and Department of Defense Executive Agent for Space Michael Donley, will help oversee implementation.

 “The strategy provides a basis to update defense plans and programs and make the hard choices that will be required to implement the strategy,” said Gates.  “We look forward to working closely with Congress, industry, and allies to implement this new strategy for space.”

For more information about NSSS, please visit http://www.defense.gov/nsss.

This article was sponsored by Forensic Science Books.