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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

SecDef briefed on military space programs, threats to satellites

Friday, April 2, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Cyber Security

Comments: 0

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WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week received a detailed briefing on DoD space programs and national security threats in the space domain. This was Austin’s first high-level briefing on space issues since taking office.

“Secretary Austin was pleased to receive a briefing about the space domain,” Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement to SpaceNews.

Kirby said he could not comment on the specific matters discussed at the March 25 meeting but noted that Austin “understands the importance of this domain to our national security.”

Austin’s briefing was led by John Hill, who is performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for space policy. In attendance — some in person and some via video teleconference — were senior officials from the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office.

The briefing was intended to bring Austin up to date on space programs, the structure of the national security space enterprise and the challenges the United States faces in the space domain, according to several sources.

The subject of China’s technological advances and space ambitions also were discussed, these sources said.

The Biden administration has made technological competition with China a cornerstone issue that will drive investments and policy decisions. Austin this month stood up a “China task force” of senior officials who will be providing recommendations on how to meet the China challenge.

In written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, Austin noted that the “strategic environment continues to evolve rapidly, especially as it applies to space.” He said as defense secretary he would support a national defense strategy that addresses the “continued growth of adversary space and counterspace capabilities.” Chinese and Russian space activities, Austin added, “present serious and growing threats to U.S. national security interests.”

Earlier this month Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Indo-Pacific region where U.S. allies Japan and South Korea are growing increasingly concerned about China’s expansive maritime claims as well as its technological advances in space and other areas.

Blinken said in a speech last month that United States should “engage all countries, including Russia and China, on developing standards and norms of responsible behavior in outer space.”

U.S. military commanders in the Indo-Pacific region have called for greater investments in advanced technologies, including space systems, to deter and counter China. Commanders worry about Chinese capabilities to disrupt U.S. satellites like GPS and systems that provide critical communications services.

As he prepares to submit his first budget request to Congress, Austin will have to balance combatant commanders’ requests for more resources against fiscal pressures and calls to reduce military spending.

Photo: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi at Japan’s Ministry of Defense in Tokyo, March 16, 2021. Credit: DoD

Link: https://spacenews.com/secdef-briefed-on-military-space-programs-threats-to-satellites/

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