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Improving U.S. Space Capabilities in Integrated Deterrence

2024 Presidential Transition

This document provides an overview of challenges the United States faces in the realm of space-based capabilities and systems and offers recommendations for how to provide integrated deterrence to deter adversary attacks on U.S. space systems.

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Capabilities based in space, or reliant on space, play a critical role in maintaining U.S. and allied national security. While potential peer adversaries such as China and Russia also use space in similar ways, their reliance on those space systems for national security objectives may be less than ours. This places constraints on our ability to deter threats to our space systems purely by threatening adversary space systems. Instead, deterring conflict in space may require a blending of diplomatic, informational, military, and economic tools, along with increased resilience for U.S. space capabilities.

This paper focuses on actions the new administration can take in the first 100 days to leverage space in integrated deterrence.