Common Security in Outer Space and International Law

Common Security in Outer Space and International Law By Detlev Wolter. UN Institute for Disarmament Research, February 2006, 296 pp.

German diplomat Detlev Wolter recommends the negotiation of a new legal instrument that would seek to fill a gap in the Outer Space Treaty by explicitly prohibiting weapons in space. His proposal comes at a time when the United States is contemplating unilaterally deploying missile interceptors in space. It draws from the 1967 treaty, which in addition to banning the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space, requires that the …