Guest: Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese. Topics: National Security Space Strategy, U.S. Civil and Military space policy. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. We welcomed Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese to the program to discuss our National Security Space and Strategy Policy. There were several documents referenced in this discussion and I recommend you download and read them. The National Security Space Strategy released last week is at www.defense.gov/home/features/2011/0111_nsss. The National Security Space Strategy Fact Sheet is at www.defense.gov/home/features/2011/0111_nsss/docs/2011%2001%2019%20NSSS…. The EU Draft Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities can be found at www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/images/stories/EU_revised_draft_code_of…. We started our first segment with a discussion about the National Security Space Strategy and learned that while we are not short of space policy organizations, documents, and efforts, our national space policy is not unified or organized. We discussed our policy in the context of both the Chinese and Indian space policies amid the pros and cons of doing business with China. I was not surprised to learn that the U.S. is on the road to becoming irrelevant from the perspective of other emerging national space programs. With listener questions focusing on China, we discussed both American and Chinese perspectives and the probable consequences of how we decide to relate to China with space policy. Our discussion move to the U.S. DoD perspective and we learned about the DIME term for our nation's diplomatic, information, military, and economic strategies. As you will hear, our guest suggested that we all too often emphasize the "M" in that term and not always to our own benefit. Toward the end of the first segment, we began talking about the EU's Draft Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. In our second segment we fielded listener questions asking about China as well as inquiring about some of the more obvious problems with our current proposed space policy. Later in this segment, I asked Dr. Johnson-Freese about her commentary article in Astropolitics in response to a space and strategy target article in the same journal by Dr. James Clay Moltz. Dr. Johnson-Freese talked about comparing nuclear policy and strategy with space policy. I urge all of you to read this issue of Astropolitics, Vol. 8 Numbers 2-3, May-December 2010. A listener asked about the use of nuclear power for advanced propulsion and our guest suggested we would face legal problems doing it but other countries probably would not face such obstacles. The question of an Asian Space Race came up and you don't want to miss what was said about this possibility. In our third segment, I asked about the Common Heritage of Mankind (CMH) language and space as a Global Commons. This took us back to the Draft Code of Conduct discussion and the need for rules of the road for all space stakeholders to be able to access and carry on their desired activities in space. Comparisons were made with air routes and sea lanes. Toward the end of the segment, we talked about space education, including some recent educational efforts for members of Congress and their staff. You will likely be surprised at the stories you hear. Our guest talked about revising the National Space Council as a way to possibly counter some of the issues discussed during today's interview. If you have a question or comment for Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese, post it on the Space Show Blog URL above. You can also send it to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward it to Dr. Johnson-Freese.
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