On April 16, AFPC hosted a luncheon briefing on “Space Security and Defense” for Congressional staff members at the U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center.
The featured speaker at the event was Eric Sterner, a Senior Fellow at the George C. Marshall Institute and a member of the Associated Faculty at Missouri State University’s Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. Mr. Sterner previously held senior positions at NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and served on the staff of both the House Armed Services Committee and the House Science Committee.
In his remarks, Mr. Sterner focused on the proliferation of dual-use technologies related to space programs taking place in the global system, and the potential vulnerability of U.S. command and control systems that now exists due to a lack of resilience on the part of existing U.S. space assets.
Of particular relevance to Congressional staff was Mr. Sterner’s observation that at the moment U.S. policy does not appear to include a commitment to deny potential adversaries the use of space during times of conflict. According to Sterner, control of the space domain and the development of counter-space technologies are key elements of effective missile defense, and the failure of the United States to develop strategic options in this critical domain has helped spur the acquisition and proliferation of intercontinental ballistic missiles by adversaries and strategic competitors of the United States.
The ability to reach space, Sterner concluded, is no longer the exclusive providence of superpowers. America must plan accordingly.
The text of Mr. Sterner’s presentation, entitled “Space in the National Interest: Security in a Global Domain,” is now available for download here.
