Page:The Air Force Role In Developing International Outer Space Law (Terrill, 1999).djvu/100

 Epilogue

The Air Force encouraged the ad hoc approach to the writing of space law. This approach has been the route that the development of that law has generally taken. Most international law conventions relating to outer space that the various nation-states have passed and accepted have simply codified existing customs and practices among nations. This trend has allowed the unfettered development of technology to drive these customs and practices just as the Air Force desired. Project West Ford is a case in point. Because of the technology it incorporated, the Air Force had a direct impact on the development of environmental provisions that eventually became part of international outer space law.

It is highly unlikely that any delimitation or demarcation between airspace and outer space will be internationally recognized until a particular practice or technological device makes such a definition imperative. In the interim, Eisenhower's "open skies" policy providing for the free passage of vehicles in outer space, wherever that is, has become the internationally accepted custom (law). The Soviets, with the launch of Sputnik I and II, firmly established this principle of outer space law, and the United States with its subsequent overflights in outer space further solidified the principle. The extensive number of overflights occurring each day have made the principle a commonly accepted custom or practice.

Initially, certain Air Force representatives viewed spy satellites as a threat and, thus, subject to summary destruction. This position was diametrically opposite that which the Eisenhower administration so dearly sought to achieve. The military services chafed under Eisenhower's space policies in part because they had never been fully advised nor fully comprehended how these policies would eventually contribute to the strengthening as opposed to the weakening of national security. The early Air Force proponents of the ad hoc approach to development of the law were correct. The writing of international conventions before the practices of nations and the advent of relevant technology existed would have been an unnecessary exercise. No evidence has surfaced that mankind or the national security interests of the United States have been disserved by the ad hoc approach. Further, because of the ad hoc