| June 28, 2010 |  |
Obama Space Policy a Return to “Traditional” U.S. Position from Carter through Clinton, Science Group Says
Statement by Laura Grego
WASHINGTON (June 28, 2010) – The Obama administration is expected to release its National Space Policy this afternoon. Experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) point out that the document language will indicate how the Obama administration will approach space security. If the administration’s public statements are any indication, the new policy likely will represent a return to a more international approach to space; a more balanced view of civil, commercial and military uses of space; and a greater openness to arms control and cooperative solutions to international space security issues.
Below is a statement by Laura Grego, a senior scientist with UCS’s Global Security Program. Grego is available for comment after the administration issues the policy document.
“From what we’ve heard, the Obama administration has decided to return to policies that were in place during the Carter, Reagan, Bush senior and Clinton years. The National Space Policy of each of those administrations supported the right of all nations to use space peacefully and without interference. And all of those administrations viewed arms control agreements as useful tools to ensure that right.
“The George W. Bush administration took the United States in a radically different direction. It essentially embraced a unilateral approach to space security, which was in keeping with its overall foreign policy. It asserted that the right to use space without interference was a U.S. right, and put strict limits on arms control.
“By contrast, we expect the Obama administration’s space policy to be open to new arms control agreements and cooperative solutions to security problems. That’s critically important. There is no way we can achieve lasting space security independently. We are going to have to coordinate and cooperate with other spacefaring nations. That’s the nature of space.
“We also expect the new policy to do a better job than the last one balancing military, civil, and commercial uses of space. The Bush administration overemphasized military policy, and that has had significant negative consequences. Overly broad export controls over the last decade have held back our domestic space industry in international competition. And they also have hampered the United States’ ability to cooperate with other countries on civil space projects.”
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