The long awaited update to U.S. National Space Policy is finally out. It was posted on the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Friday but didn’t make it through the news cycle until yesterday. The full text of the document is available on the OSTP website but the key paragraphs for the space weaponization debate are:
To achieve the goals of this policy, the Secretary of Defense shall:Â Â Â
Develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries;
and ..
The United States will oppose the development of new legal regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit U.S. access to or use of space. Proposed arms control agreements or restrictions must not impair the rights of the United States to conduct research, development, testing, and operations or other activities in space for U.S. national interests;
Exactly the kind of announcement everyone has been predicting and preparing for, but its finally official as U.S. government policy. Game on.
I’m going to tag everything I come across related to the new NSPD with the keyword U.S National Space Policy, please contact me if you see anything I missed or if there are any good discussions of this policy out there in the blogosphere that we should link to.Â
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