A Pentagon advisory panel calls for increased adoption of commercial space technologies to bolster U.S. military capabilities. A committee of civilian experts that advises senior Defense Department leadership recommends integrating commercial space capabilities into national security architectures. These recommendations are being made given that the space sector is rapidly evolving, specifically in the commercial sector, and therefore the Department of Defense should pursue an approach that leverages those advancements. A key quote from the article is, “Commercial capabilities are key to a resilient hybrid architecture”. Key recommendations as detailed in this report are:
- Implementing an end-to-end framework for integrating commercial capabilities into national security space architectures
- Incorporating evaluations of commercial space services into institutional processes
- Incentivizing trust and building resilience among commercial providers
- Developing capabilities to monitor and respond to adversary use of commercial space assets
- Considering market maturity when making investment, regulation, or procurement decisions
This article and report raise serious concerns regarding space systems cybersecurity. While the commercial space sector is certainly seeing rapid advancements from a technological perspective, we must keep in mind that commercial entities are typically the least concerned with potential cyber-attacks (as compared to government entities). Commercial systems are therefore less protected or in other words the most susceptible to potential cyber attacks. If the Department of Defense looks to utilize commercial capabilities, they will in turn be exposed to many of the space risks that the commercial players are. I acknowledge that the government should leverage the advancements of the commercial space sector, but they should d so with cyber implications in mind. Commercial technologies should be further advanced by the Department of Defense with cyber resilience prior to leveraging those capabilities for military use. This will ensure that military data is safeguarded to the best of our abilities.