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Emerging Technology
The unregulated development and deployment of emerging technologies—referring to scientific and technical developments that, if applied in the military sphere, could have transformative effects on the future of warfare in unpredictable and potentially hazardous, destabilizing ways—could increase the risk of accidental and unintended conflict escalation. Whether manifested in new domains, new applications, or new military capabilities, these technologies can include hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities, cyberspace operations, counterspace capabilities, and the like.
The Arms Control Association (ACA), in conjunction with other experts and organizations, has proposed various measures to reduce such risks, as laid out in issue briefs, reports, articles in Arms Control Today, and more. To receive updates on developments in this field, join today or sign up for our regular updates list.
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U.S. and Chinese officials met on July 8 to discuss cybersecurity issues between the two countries, including norms for state behavior in cyberspace, espionage, and intellectual theft.
A UN group of governmental experts for cyber issues reached a “landmark consensus” decision on how current international law applies to state behavior in cyberspace.
In an effort to garner wider international support for its proposed international code of conduct for outer space activities, the European Union announced last month that it plans to hold a series of consultations on the current draft.
China successfully launched a land-based missile interceptor Jan. 28, according to Xinhua, the country’s official news agency.
The second diplomatic meeting of space-faring countries on the European Union’s proposed international code of conduct for space, which was supposed to take place in October in New York, has been postponed until some time in 2013, an EU official familiar with the issue said last month.
The European Union in late July provided details on its process of adopting an international code of conduct for outer space activities, clarifying why the process is not directly tied to any of the various existing UN forums and what the EU’s planned timetable is for negotiating the agreement.
The European Union circulated a new draft of its proposed international code of conduct for outer space activities at its first international meeting of governmental experts June 5 in Vienna.
The United States will join with the European Union and other space-faring countries to develop an international code of conduct for outer space activities, but will not sign on to the EU’s current draft of a proposed code, U.S. officials have said.