Space Security through the Transatlantic Partnership

June 12-14, 2011, Prague

 The conference, envisioned to be attended by more than a hundred space and security experts, is being co-organized by the Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI) and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI)  under the auspices of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel Schwarzenberg, Minister of Defence, Alexandr Vondra, Minister of Transport, Radek Šmerda, and Lord Mayor of Prague, Bohuslav Svoboda.

The conference panels will discuss such topics as governance of space activities; present and projected threats to unfettered access to, and operations in, space; the security policy dimension of Space Situational Awareness (SSA); the formulation of transparency and confidence-building measures applicable to space; and space crisis management for the future. These and other issues will be analyzed by distinguished list of speakers and panelists, comprised of prominent present and former government officials, non-governmental policy experts, academics and industry representatives from Europe and the U.S., and Japan.  Leading Japanese space officials will provide an Asian perspective on the transatlantic space dialogue in the effort to become more integrated in the global management of these pressing space-related challenges.

Confirmed speakers include: Admiral Dennis C. Blair, former Director of National Intelligence and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command;  Frank Asbeck, Principal Advisor, Security and Space Policy, European Commission, DG RELEX ; Hirofumi Katase, Deputy Secretary-General, Japan’s Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy in the Cabinet Secretariat; Jeff Kueter, President, George C. Marshall Institute; Tomaž Lovrenčič, Director, European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC); Giuseppe Morsillo, Director for Policies, Planning and Control, European Space Agency (ESA); Scott Pace, Director, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University; Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, Chairman, UNCOPUOS; and Frank A. Rose, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Space and Defense Policy, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, U.S. Department of State.

The conference will seek to advance a number of goals, among them: 

• identifying common space security concerns and the priorities they are accorded within the transatlantic relationship and with Japan; 
• proposing additional mechanisms to facilitate “real-time” exchanges between the U.S., Europe and Japan on urgent space security developments;
• assessing the need for NATO involvement in space security activities and governance;
• creating a potentially useful “Track II” process in the U.S.-Europe-Japan dialogue on space security made up of leading NGO officials, academics, senior current and former policy-makers, relevant industry  and media    representatives, etc.;
• offering an opportunity to network among space policy and security professionals;
• promoting pragmatic space-related transparency and confidence-building measures as well enforcement and verification issues;
• building a broader consensus on the need for an effective, uniform and security-minded space code of conduct
• engaging more actively the broader security communities of key alliance countries in cooperative efforts and initiatives to safeguard the overall space environment.