On 11 August 1960 President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10883, Termination of the Air Coordinating Committee. EO 10883 transferred certain functions of the ACC to the Interagency Group on International Aviation within the Federal Aviation Administration. The demise of the ACC spelled trouble for the Air Force. Once the ACC was gone, the Air Force had no independent vehicle through which to shape outer space law directly, thus Air Force legal activities relating to outer space were confined to DOD. As a result, the Air Force took a more passive stance while DOD and the Joint Staff became more active in influencing policy direction.
Air Force as a Background Player
in the Sovereignty Debate
While the US finally had a space policy, discussions evolving from the policy as to its impact on sovereignty and the legality of reconnaissance satellites continued into the 1960s. However, in general during the 1960s, the main participants in the dialogue were from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The Air Force role was usually limited to coordination and to meetings within DOD as discussed below.[1] During this time the United States and Great Britain engaged in substantive discussions regarding outer space law. In August 1961 the Air Force was asked to comment on a British memorandum entitled "Limits in Space and Cognate Questions." The assistant judge advocate general Maj Gen Moody R. Tidwell concurred that it was unwise to attempt to define a line of demarcation where a nation's sovereignty ended. He noted that the focus of concern should be the activity in space rather than the altitude at which it occurred. "Protection of the subjacent state will argue against agreement to any fixed distance as long as equal danger may exist from above such point." Further, the general expressed concern for the definition of peaceful "purposes" and the disassociation of "peaceful" from "military" purposes. He agreed with the caveat included by the British that "nothing shall prevent the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or any other peaceful purpose in outer space." Finally, General Tidwell agreed with the position taken by the British that the legality of the passage of reconnaissance satellites in outer space over another state's territory could be premised on the self-defense provisions of Article 51 of the UN Charter.
- ↑ The reduced profile of the Air Force and the insurgence of DOD officials not only on space issues but in many DOD matters during Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara's tenure beginning in 1961 are well-documented. See George M. Watson Jr., The Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, 1947-1965 (Washington, D.C.: Center for Air Force History, 1993), 205-44.
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