China’s Military Ambitions in Space: A Conversation with Todd Harrison and Kaitlyn Johnson

This episode explores China’s military developments in space over the last two decades. Our guests, Todd Harrison and Kaitlyn Johnson, discuss some of the findings of their report, “Space Threat Assessment 2019,” and analyze how China has developed and used their growing military space capabilities. They also explain the Wolf Amendment, which forbids any bilateral cooperation between NASA and the China National Space Administration, and how it will affect future US-China cooperation in space. Todd Harrison is the director of Defense Budget Analysis, the director of the Aerospace Security Project, and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS. His research focuses on defense funding, space security, and air power issues. Kaitlyn Johnson is an associate fellow and associate director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS. Her research focuses on space security, military space systems, and commercial space policy.