An interview with Senior Researcher Dr. Jessica West
Published in The Ploughshares Monitor Volume 42 Issue 1 Spring 2021
Project Ploughshares: Even with the pandemic, you have been extraordinarily busy. What are some of the highlights of the past year for you?
Jessica West: A big highlight was being awarded a grant to do policy research by the Mobilizing Insights in National Defence (MINDS) program of the Canadian Department of National Defence just before the pandemic set in. The goal of this work is to help advance what DND refers to as international “norms of responsible behaviour” in outer space, a longstanding policy objective that has stalled.
I worked with Gilles Doucet to create a map of existing international obligations and best practices in outer space, as a way to better understand where we are today. The map will work as a guide to inform the evolution of norms for military and security actors.
PP: Gilles Doucet is not a name that most Monitor readers will recognize. How did you come to work with him on this project?
JW: Gilles and I met through the Space Security Index, which Project Ploughshares led for 16 years. Gilles is a Canadian technical expert who spent many years working for the Department of National Defence. We have complementary skill sets that worked well together on this project.
PP: I’ll just mention that two reports from the norms project have been published and summaries of them are in this issue of the Monitor.
Did anything about this work surprise you?
JW: I’m part of the global refrain that calls for more governance, more rules, more protections. I was really encouraged to find an extensive array of documentation linked to space-related activities and behaviours—a good foundation to build on. Many of these practices—such as disclosure, notification, and consultation—can and should inform military activities, to avoid misunderstandings and other mishaps that can accelerate tensions and lead to unintentional conflict in space. But many of the mechanisms to implement these practices are missing. Filling this gap should be a priority of the international community.
PP: Are you planning on further projects with Gilles?
JW: Yes. Our priority this year—we hope with additional funding from the MINDS program—is to learn how to advance arms control and other formal restrictions on military activities in space. A key objective of international norms at the diplomatic level is to form a base for more formal arms control measures.
There are many obstacles to this process, but Gilles and I believe that we can learn from the limited history of arms control in space, as well as the experiences in other domains of activity, to chart a productive path forward.
PP: You mentioned the Space Security Index earlier. Many Monitor readers will be familiar with this international project, which you directed with international partners. Can you update us on SSI?
JW: Certainly. SSI has changed a lot. After 16 years of producing a large, comprehensive report on almost all space activity, we transitioned this last year to an online portal that breaks information down into a series of fact sheets and issue guides, all very accessible to a general audience.
Space activities have increased tremendously since the first report was published. Today there are almost 3,500 operational satellites in orbit, registered to more than 70 countries. Roughly 20 states have military or dual-use space programs. The commercial space sector has exploded with companies such as SpaceX pioneering new services like reusable launch vehicles and space-based internet. It became impossible for us, with limited resources, to produce a comprehensive volume of updated information each year.
But there is now a strong international community of civil society, academic, and state-based organizations that study and champion the security of outer space. And we at Ploughshares will continue to participate, in a way that makes best use of our expertise and resources.
PP: How does a focus on outer space fit in with the other thematic areas that Ploughshares covers?
JW: Ploughshares is mandated to prevent conflict and promote peace.
Militaries communicate, navigate, surveil, identify targets, and strike or use force on Earth with the aid of space assets. Even the command and control of nuclear weapons systems runs through space. Consequently, these capabilities are highly valuable and highly vulnerable targets of warfighting.
Space is also central to the burgeoning development of drones, artificial intelligence, and surveillance. Much of the ‘big data’ that feeds these systems is space-based data, derived from satellites, and the role of space in these processes continues to grow.
Recently, a lot of outer-space activity has been related to weapons systems and warfighting in space. Violent activity in space is a real possibility, with few rules to prevent it or to limit damage.
It’s no exaggeration to say that space is at the very centre of current and future warfare. And that means that it must also be at the centre of our focus on peace.
But space is not just about weapons and warfare. The ability to closely monitor and track objects on Earth is essential to many processes of peace, including verification for arms control agreements, and the ability to identify and monitor military installations, to track arms, and to document and, we hope, guard against mass human rights abuses. For example, Ploughshares researcher Kelsey Gallagher and former Ploughshares Executive Director Ernie Regehr are examining commercial satellite images to identify and document military bases in the Arctic.
PP: That sounds like a huge file! How do you cope!?
JW: Well, there are many talented, dedicated researchers and analysts working on outer space.
I work with colleagues from nongovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies, and academic institutions, in Canada and abroad. I have been very fortunate to be able to attend and present my work at critical meetings of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, as well as the UN First Committee for Disarmament and International Security. Working collaboratively allows us all to make progress over a range of related concerns.
And I choose my projects carefully. In the coming year, I plan to focus on:
Above all, I think that it is important to question what it means to be secure, and to promote other values along with security, such as protection, peace, and caring for one another and the environment.