The Foreign Service Journal, May 2022

46 MAY 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Though the Space Age is not new, space diplomacy remains an esoteric specialty at State. Here’s why it’s important to start changing this now. BY DAV I D A . EPSTE I N BOOSTINGSPACE DIPLOMACY at State W ith ever-increasing speed, humanity is expanding the scope of its activities in outer space, thanks to private enter- prise as well as via national pursuits. In the last two years alone, for example, the number of active and defunct satellites in low Earth orbit has increased by more than 50 percent, to around 5,000, with plans to add tens of thousands more in the coming years. Equally surprising, these satellites are owned and operated by nearly 100 different countries and organizations around the world—not just the small but growing number of nations with domestic satellite launch capabilities—and involve a wide range of commercial, scientific and security and defense endeavors. Dangers lurk, however, and U.S. diplomacy must be prepared. The United Nations took steps in December 2020 and Novem- ber 2021 to reduce space threats and establish norms, rules and principles of responsible behavior in outer space. The impor- tance of such efforts was demonstrated by Russia’s Nov. 15, 2021, anti-satellite missile test, which caused a massive and dangerous debris field that threatened space assets and forced astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station to take refuge in emergency escape capsules. FEATURE David A. Epstein joined the Foreign Service in 2007. He currently serves at USNATO in Brussels where his portfolio includes space policy. He also taught space policy while on detail at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Other assignments include Embassy San Salvador, then–Consulate General Jerusalem, Embassy Kabul and Embassy Sofia, as well as a tour in Washington, D.C. He is married with three sons.