Defense: Members of Congress warn that the State Department is working on arms accords to demilitarize space and ban anti-satellite weapons, leaving Russia and China with a huge lead in military space capabilities.
On Jan. 17, 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement announcing the Obama administration's intention to work with the European Union on an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. It was supposed to be sort of a "rules of the road" for space-faring nations to deal with issues such as the accumulating space junk jeopardizing satellites and manned space activities such as the International Space Station.It soon became apparent that the vague, loosely worded and allegedly nonbinding accord that would be negotiated would become a pretext to restrict the so-called militarization of space. In 2007, a successful Chinese test of an anti-satellite weapon against an aging weather satellite spewed tens of thousands of pieces of debris into low-Earth orbit, posing a hazard. Space treaty advocates felt that space was getting crowded enough without militarizing it.
However, a 2012 EU analysis of the draft code provided to the House Armed Services Committee at the time warned that if the U.S. "were to make a good-faith effort at implementing the requirements of the draft code," it would have an impact on U.S. military operations.



















