Content area
Full text
I. Introduction
On August 9, 2018, Vice President Pence announced that the United States is in the process of creating a "new" and "separate" branch of the United States Department of Defense called the United States Space Force ("Space Force").1 On the same day, the Department of Defense released a report ("Space Force Report") that was prepared for the Congressional Defense Committees; it specifically states how the United States plans to create, operate, and maintain the new Space Force.2 The Space Force Report calls for the creation of a "U.S. Space Command to improve and evolve space warfighting, including integrating innovative force designs, concepts of operation, doctrines, tactics, techniques and procedures."3 The United States Space Command currently in existence is complementary to the Space Force and will assist the Space Force as it represents a unified command structure where all branches of the military are represented.4
The aggressive language in the Report calls into question the United States' commitment to the major international space treaty, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies ("Outer Space Treaty"), that was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly over half a century ago for the "use of outer space for peaceful purposes."5
The announcement of a United States Space Force, which mirrors Russian and Chinese consolidation of space assets into one military branch,6 may prove to be an opportunity for the international community to clarify and update defunct international space law. New changes must be made to binding international space law to match the increasing militarization of space and to limit the creation of space debris. Any change to the international space law that hopes to be successful must include all three major space powers: The United States, China, and Russia.7 Limiting the creation of space debris is a common interest held by all parties and could be the common interest that pulls all parties together. To find a possible way forward this Note will review international space law, the threat of space debris, United States space policy, and Russian and Chinese capabilities.
II. Current International Space Law
It is important to understand the current treaties in determining whether the creation of a...