In today’s issue of The Space Review, I have an article summarizing a recent space policy roundtable in DC organized by CSIS. (Because of the ground rules of the discussion, none of the comments are attributed to any of the attendees.) A quick summary of the article:

• The problem is not developing policy but actually carrying it out: as one speaker put it, “But as we now understand, policy is not self-actualizing.”
• At least part of that problem with implementing policy is a lack of executive leadership for space, in both a “fragmentation” of authority among various agencies and a lack of strong leadership in the White House. “The bottom line is that the country really isn’t serious about getting a good space program,” one panelist said, resulting in a space program that is “good enough” but not good.
• The panelists were not enthused by President Obama’s proposal to re-establish the National Space Council. Some advocated an alternative approach that would create something like a senior director for space within the National Security Council, with a small staff; that would tie it closer to the national security space community and also allow for short lines of communications into the president’s inner circle.