Too many overlapping roles and responsibilities, excessive classification, and too few people in key positions are hurting U.S. collaboration with allies in space, a new government watchdog report says.
In recent year, the Defense Department’s space operations have grown considerably in recent years, and at least in theory, have been streamlined since the 2019 creation of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command. But a new report from the Government Accountability Office found that allies and partnersare struggling to figure out who to contact within the sprawling U.S. military space enterprise—for example, about training exercises, information sharing, and other matters.
That confusion has “led to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for coordination with allies and partners,” whose cooperation is increasingly vital to U.S. space operations, according to the report, which was released Wednesday.
A major part of the problem is the sheer number of Defense Department entities involved in space. Many of them do something space-related, but they aren’t well integrated, resulting in duplication and siloed efforts. GAO wrote, “Due to the large number of DOD organizations that have overlapping roles and responsibilities for space-related security cooperation, allies and partners have difficulty understanding with whom to coordinate.”
The U.S. also struggles to declassify information fast enough for allies to meaningfully participate in joint exercises. For example, many countries that had participated in previous years’ Space Flag exercises—which drill operators on how to fight in contested or degraded space environments— were unable to take part in this year’s version, Space Force personnel told GAO. The reason: “The operational plan used to develop the exercise was not releasable to foreign officials.”
Even Australian officials expressed concern, which is notable given their country’s membership in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. French officials were particularly critical of the information-sharing barriers, the report said.
Canadian officials told GAO they have difficulty understanding the “nested functions” of the U.S. military space architecture. Canadian exchange officers and senior leaders “have recently experienced increased barriers accessing information despite overall improvements related to classification,” the report states.
The complexity of the space enterprise might suggest a well-resourced bureaucracy, but GAO found that key liaison positions remain unfilled—another factor hindering international collaboration.
GAO laid out three steps it says the Pentagon must take to turn its lofty goals for allied space cooperation into action: establish specific milestones for integrating partners, fill critical international engagement roles inside the Space Force—or at least assess the risk of leaving them vacant—and clarify department-wide responsibilities by issuing formal guidance on who handles what when it comes to working with allies in space.
The Pentagon agreed with two of the three recommendations but rejected the one aimed at eliminating overlapping roles. GAO, for its part, “continues to believe that all of the recommendations should be implemented.”
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