SEST-6752: National Security Space Policy and Technology 

Want to learn about the newest warfighting domain and a central arena of great power competition? This course will examine how spacepower contributes to U.S. national and international security, the key space policy issues facing the United States, and the factors that influence national security space decision-making.

We will begin with an overview of the space environment and how the use of space has evolved. We will review and contrast U.S. national security space policies – past and present – in the context of technology advancements and a changing international security landscape. We will examine decision-making entities, budgets, and processes in U.S. national security space, including the role of Congress, and conduct a deep-dive on the establishment of the U.S. Space Force.

Our course then expands to international space issues, foreign space programs, and the role of intelligence. It continues with a review of space warfare trends and their implications across policy, operations, and technology. Finally, our course culminates with a multi-session “space wargame” that puts students in a simulated Principals-level meeting at the National Security Council as an international security crisis unfolds involving space assets.

No technical or space background is required for this course, but a strong interest in the nexus between space technology and policy is preferred. This is a practitioners’ course, and is designed to prepare students for interaction with, or development of, national security policy through the lens of space issues. Through assignments and in-class discussions, students will be exposed to a range of policymaking vehicles and “tools of the trade” frequently used in the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Congress – from information memos, congressional hearings, federal budget analysis, to meeting preparation and briefings.