27 April 2023
Dr. John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy
On National security and defense strategy in the space domain
-Space plays a critical role in our nation's security and our prosperity and our way of life.
-Space is essential to the US way of fighting and the US way of War.
Space provides us with missile warning and tracking to defend the Homeland.
-The President's National Security strategy and the Biden Administration's National Defense strategy both give the department the goal to increase collaboration capabilities.
-Our goal is to streamline our ability as a Department of Defense to work with partners to ultimately enhance US National Security.
On Importance of allies and partners in space
-We're all in this together in space…We can't have a lone approach in space.
-The more we can rely on our allies and partners to increase our deterrence architecture, the further away conflict will be.
-It's only through sustained engagement that we are able to identify where we have capability and how different allies can complement each other.
-Allies and partners can provide an enduring strength and an asymmetric advantage that our competitors can never hope to match.
-Each nation brings its own capabilities to the table and has their own national security interest in space.
On The increased competition with China in space
-We're in a state of intense competition with China and of course we're seeing that play out in space as we are in other domains.
-The quantity and quality of counter-space threats has increased significantly just in the last few years.
-Conflict with China's not inevitable, conflict in space is not inevitable.
-China is fielding increasingly complex capabilities that can deny space missions of the Joint Force and their allies and partners.
On International space economy
-The International Space economy was around 470 billion dollars in 2021 and it's clearly poised to keep growing.
On the importance of thought leadership
-Putting these ideas front and center will require more events like this one today and more thought leadership.
-We also struggled to align our brightest in driving space innovation and scientific discovery.
-The brightest minds are not only driving space innovation and scientific discovery but also helping our nation navigate new policy territory, regulatory challenges, and security dilemmas.
On the need to deter conflict in space
-Cooperation between like-minded nations contributes to our collective ability to deter aggression.
-It's important to recognize that conflict in space is not inevitable and our focus should be on how to deter conflict.
On space as an operational domain
-We need to normalize space as an operational domain and increase our deterrence architecture to avoid conflict in space.
On the role of commercial space
-The commercial space industry is making significant contributions to our national security.
-The commercial space industry is a major driver of economic growth and innovation.
-Commercial space systems have been essential to Ukraine's effort to withstand Russia's unjustified and illegal war of aggression.
-The commercial space industry is working on refueling satellites and this is an opportunity for the Department of Defense to partner more closely.
On the need to streamline information sharing & reduce overclassification
-Space is over classified and those policies are slowing us down in the information age.
-We can't do combined space operations at an operationally relevant speed if we can't share classified information with allies and partners.
-Overclassification or more restrictive processes for protecting [information] is just costing us time and money.
On navigating new policy & regulatory challenges in the space domain
-We can't rely on large, exquisite systems in the geo belt as our only solution anymore.
On the Department of Defense
-The Department of Defense doesn't have a refuel tank in space.
-The goal is to streamline our ability as a Department of Defense to work with partners to ultimately enhance US National Security.
-Space is essential to the Department of Defense for how we compete and fight in every single domain.
-The Department of Defense is strengthening space partnerships.
-The Department of Defense is one of the biggest actors in space and needs to adjust to how this domain works with a large and increasing number of other actors.
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