Surveying Duality in Space

Volume I, Americas Workshop Insights on Developing, Deploying, and Governing Dual-Use Space Systems

Anca Agachi, Krista Langeland, Amal Altwaijri, Mélusine Lebret, David Glickstein, Bruce McClintock

Expert InsightsPublished Feb 3, 2026

In early 2025, RAND launched a three-year effort to examine dual-use space systems — those capable of performing both civilian and military operations. The project began with a baseline report analyzing national approaches to developing, deploying, and governing these systems, followed by three regional workshops in the Americas, Europe-Eurasia, and the Indo-Pacific to fill gaps and further contextualize findings. These proceedings focus solely on the Americas workshop, which was held virtually on May 28, 2025, and convened 14 participants from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Costa Rica across government, private, and research sectors.

These proceedings articulate key themes summarizing participant insights, emphasizing the lack of shared definitions, varied investment drivers, unequal access to technologies, and differing perspectives on preferred governance mechanisms. Findings from the baseline report and workshops will inform recommendations to the international community for establishing a global governance regime for dual-use space systems.

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Agachi, Anca, Krista Langeland, Amal Altwaijri, Mélusine Lebret, David Glickstein, and Bruce McClintock, Surveying Duality in Space: Volume I, Americas Workshop Insights on Developing, Deploying, and Governing Dual-Use Space Systems. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CFA4003-1.html.
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This work was funded by Founders Pledge and conducted by within the International Security and Defense Policy Program of the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD).

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