Page:The Air Force Role In Developing International Outer Space Law (Terrill, 1999).djvu/13

 provisions were included as part of the 1968 Principles Treaty (see chapter 4). The Air Force’s reactive posture to proposed international conventions was typified by its involvement in the internal US government negotiations leading to the passage of the 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damages Caused by Space Objects. Because of this approach, the Air Force is not perceived as having the legal expertise or reputation in outer space law that it has developed, for example, in the area of aerospace medicine. To capture the nature of this reactive posture, the author describes the Air Force’s participation in these generally internal DOD negotiations in minute detail. No direct evidence indicates that the Air Force’s reactive approach impaired its missions, doctrine, or interests. The assessment of the US role in the evolution of international outer space law involves an analysis of the US policy formulation process. Determining what if any institutional reputation the Air Force may have lost by not being more active in influencing this policy process or by not being viewed as the US “legal expert” in international outer space law would only be speculative. To determine what, if any, leverage or influence the Air Force has lost would require a more in-depth study of the Air Force’s role in national policy formulation and is beyond the scope of this monograph. When and where the Air Force outwardly has influenced the development of international outer space law, such involvement has been, predominantly, a result of the efforts of the attorneys assigned to the Air Force Office of General Counsel (OGC) and JAG offices. This monograph does not catalogue the many articles and presentations written or made by these Air Force officials. While such articles and presentations may have influenced the evolution of the law, their impact would be difficult to assess. Instead, this monograph traces the interaction of Air Force officials with the various policy-making levels of government inside and outside DOD during the consideration of proposed international