Science & Technology

The U.S. government is currently working on creating a so called Space Force. Legislation to establish the branch is expected to be included in the Pentagon's budget proposal next year, but it would still need approval from Congress.

If the Space Force branch is established, tech companies and defense contractors in Massachusetts stand to make millions — if not billions — in new contracts.

You may not realize it, but you probably interact with some space object every day. Maybe it’s your car, your television or even your internet — each relies on some space-orbiting satellite to function. Satellites are accessed by millions of devices a day and are robust providers of service. But trusting these satellites as much as we do is risky as they are all extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks.

When we think about critical infrastructure, the first assets that come to mind include the electric grid, water networks and transportation systems. Further unpacking the definition of critical infrastructure, we consider industries such as agriculture, defense or the financial sector. However, we rarely think about where the underlying systems that enable technology functionality across these sectors physically reside, who developed the technology, and who can access and manage that technology.

Building effective cyber defenses is a major challenge for defense planners, just as missile defense has been since the original Strategic Defense Initiative. In both realms the offense has the advantage, making effective defense difficult. Missile defense, however, now has several decades of experience producing and fielding new technologies. The Project on Military and Diplomatic History hosted a panel discussion of CSIS experts and Michael Sulmeyer of the Belfer Center on the history of missile defense, its experience in developing new technologies, and what these tell us about the prospects for building effective cyber defenses.