The Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking to establish more secure norms and behaviors in outer space amid increased aggression by China and Russia, according to one Pentagon official.
“Developing a shared understanding among states of what constitutes safe and responsible space activities benefits all space operators, including DoD,” said John Hill, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space and missile defense policy.
Hill made the comments during an April 20 panel on the development of counterspace weapons at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a security-focused think tank.
“More practically, given the increased tension with Russia and China, we hope that advancing shared understandings of norms and responsible behaviors can also enable risk-reduction measures and enhance stability and reduce uncertainty.”
The United States has faced an increasing number of belligerent activities in space in recent years.
“First, we could seek a non-legally binding U.N. First Committee resolution which would call on all states to commit not to conducting such destructive ASAT tests,” Hill said. “Such a U.N. resolution would allow countries to go on record regarding their support, creating that shared agreement among the majority of U.N. member states while increasing political pressure on plans for future destructive ASAT missile tests.”
“We could also consider making this into a legally-binding arms control agreement, though I view that as a much longer-term effort. Longstanding U.S. policy states that space arms control agreements must be equitable, verifiable, and in U.S. national security interests and those of our allies and partners. We believe the language of this commitment would allow activity contrary to it to be observed and attributed.”
“As of today, the United States commits not to conduct destructive, direct-ascent, anti-satellite missile testing,” said Vice President Kamala Harris during a visit to California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. “We are the first nation to make such a commitment. I call on all nations to join us.”
Victoria Samson, director for the Washington office of the Secure World Foundation, a think tank dedicated to promoting security and peace in outer space, said that such unilateral decision making was increasingly necessary given the potential for deadlock in the United Nations following aggressive actions such as Russia’s most recent ASAT test.
“We’ve been following a lot of these discussions internationally at the multilateral level, at the United Nations specifically, to look at how space security and stability issues have been progressing,” Samson said. “And frankly, they’ve just been stopped.”
“You know, they’ve been stuck by going about the same proposed treaty for the past 15 years [which] has gone nowhere. In the meantime, the space environment is getting increasingly complicated.”