The Implications of U.S. Space Policy Choices

Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, George Washington University,

From the beginning of the Space Age, space activities have been "tools" of both hard and soft power for participating nations. In seeking to advance International security interests in space, civil and commercial space activities must be considered along with military and intelligence ones. Space activities do not fit within a single policy domain, department or agency, but it is the very fact that they engage so many aspects of a nation's policymaking that make them so uniquely important.

In recent years, U.S. global influence has been diminished by removal of the Moon as a focus for near-term human space exploration efforts, a failure to engage international partners in concrete plans for exploration after the International Space Station, and a slow response to increasing threats posed by Russian and Chinese military space capabilities. A more effective integration of national security and civil space interests in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives would enable new opportunities for the United States and its allies. In shaping the international environment for space activities, exploration, scientific, commercial and security efforts can be used to complement each other to build a more secure, stable and prosperous world.

4:30 p.m. Refreshments
5:00 p.m. Lecture

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