CSIS Releases Report on the Relationship Between National Security and the Commercial Space Sector

The Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released today a report entitled National Security and the Commercial Space Sector: An Analysis and Evaluation of Options for Improving Commercial Access to Space. David Berteau, co-director of the project, said during this morning’s release event that there has been a lot of interest from government in looking at this issue and that the “co-dependency” of these two sectors was not being undervalued.

The report, which builds upon a draft version released last April, includes an analysis of four options – including use of foreign launch providers, and a bigger government role in the domestic launch market – to improve commercial access to space. As related issues continue being debated on Capitol Hill over the use of commercial and foreign space assets, Mr. Berteau explained that the report provides analytical discussion of these options and does not constitute “up front endorsement” of them by CSIS or the authors of the report.