Podcast: Chris Borgen on an “Update on Space Law and National Security”
Today, we begin a series of podcasts based on presentations from our 31st Annual National Security Law Conference with an “Update on Space Law and National Security.”
The speaker is conference favorite Professor Chris Borgen. Chris is the Co-Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at St. John’s University School of Law; and a “core expert” for the “The Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations” (2024).
Chris gives us a wonderful update on activities in outer space and plans for the future (did you know we could see 1,000,000 satellites in the foreseeable future?) Here’s an outline from Chris of what you’ll hear:
“[Outer space is} in popular culture. It’s in TVs, film, video games, and so on. But of course, as everyone in this room knows, space activities are absolutely crucial to the wiring of the global economy.
“It’s part of the scaffolding of the modern economy and of how things work. If you use a cell phone, if you use GPS, if you’ve pumped gas at a gas station, which actually sometimes uses GPS timing in terms of the working of the pumps, there are a variety of things that we do every day that relate to space activities, even if many times we don’t even realize it. And of course, especially with regard to the military, space activities are a key component of intelligence gathering and military operations.”
“So, over the next few minutes, I’d like to do four things. First, talk about this second space age or this new space race that people talk about. What does it mean? Second, very briefly say a few words about military space activity, something that’s probably very familiar to many of the people in the room.
Then we’ll talk a little bit about sources of law. What do we mean when we talk about space law? And then finally, talk about current issues. Sort of try to pick at a few different things that are going on that I think give an optic to thinking about the relationship of space law, international law, and national security, and so on.”
Here’s part of what Chris has to say about military space activities:
Source: Shutterstock
“Military space activities, once again, I think something that would not be a surprise for anybody in this room. Everything from military communications, command and control, positioning your own forces, targeting other forces, imagery, signals, and other intelligence-gathering. It’s also going to be about protecting the ability to do all of the above and possibly deterring, denying, or disrupting all of the above from your adversary.”
“So how is that done? It can be done through physical means, like anti-satellite weaponry. It could be through non-kinetic physical means, such as electromagnetic pulses or microwaves. It could be through jamming, through spoofing. It could be through hacking”
“And you could think about this also in terms of all of the various issues of law that have been talked about in this conference and elsewhere in terms of these different areas of military activities. So it’s about thinking about those areas of law and how they now apply to activities involving satellites, space stations, and so on.”
“So my assumption is that a lot of military space activities for the near future, for the foreseeable future, is about utilizing, protecting, and targeting satellites. It’s going to be the interaction with cyber, with AI, and with things that are, say, hypersonics, which are actually in the atmosphere, not in space, but might have an aspect that will have to do with space activities.”
And there is much more in the podcast. While you can get a lot from just listening to this presentation, I do recommend you watch it, as Chris has a number of interesting slides you’ll want to see.
Again, you can find the video here.
Remember what we like to say on Lawfire®: gather the facts, examine the law, evaluate the arguments – and then decide for yourself!
