Michael J. Listner, an attorney and expert on space policy and development, has written “An Opportunity to Take the Lead: How the Next National Space Policy Can Restore U.S. Leadership in Outer Space,” a newPolicy Outlookfor the Marshall Institute.
In examining America’s historic national space policy, he expresses concern about the possibility of ceding its traditional primacy in space. He observes that “the solution to reaffirming leadership does not rest in massive spending programs on hardware to achieve space first but at the policy level where the decline in outer space leadership really began.”
Mr. Listner explores the utility of treaties in space debris abatement and other areas and concludes that what is needed is “a national space policy that accentuates bottom-up rule making as the basis of creating international norms to shape the international legal and policy environment as opposed to reverting to top-down approaches that are little more than disguised attempts to corner the United States into a legal and soft-power corner.”
ThisPolicy Outlookis available on the Marshall Institute website at
