Securing Space in a Time of Transition

The Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress (CSPC) is pleased to release the latest National Security Space Program (NSSP) report: “Securing Space in a Time of Transition”.

America’s national security space enterprise faces new challenges and new opportunities.

President Donald Trump’s reelection brings with it the potential for a renewed focus on matching the speed of acquisition of space assets and capabilities with the speed of innovation—bringing new and novel technologies from the commercial space sector into the Department of Defense. The president’s first four years in office arguably the most significant expansion of national security space since the end of the Cold War, leading to the reestablishment of U.S. Space Command and the National Space Council, and the creation of the U.S. Space Force.

The expanding space capability and increasing belligerence of the People’s Republic of China represents the most significant challenge to America’s national security and economic prosperity, given our nation’s heavy reliance on space operations. As evidenced by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Kyiv’s heavy reliance on space-based systems for its defense, commercial space capabilities are now as important as government owned and operated systems. This increasing reliance means private space companies are as much a party to modern conflict as the combatants themselves.

Over the last year and a half, CSPC has convened a series of roundtable discussions and high-level engagements to learn the lessons of what has worked in terms of more closely integrating commercial capabilities into the national security space enterprise, what didn’t work, and where that enterprise can truly innovate faster going forward. The product of those conversations is distilled into this report, which offers recommendations and concepts for the Presidency and Congress to strengthen and secure America’s leadership on and from space.