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30 Mich. J. Int'l L. 1187 (2008-2009)
Asat-isfaction: Customary International Law and the Regulation of Anti-Satellite Weapons

handle is hein.journals/mjil30 and id is 1199 raw text is: ASAT-ISFACTION: CUSTOMARY
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND
THE REGULATION OF
ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONSt
David A. Koplow*
I. THEUBIQUITOUS EXPLOITATION OF OUTER SPACE ................ 1190
II. THE LEGAL REGIME OF OUTER SPACE ................................... 1197
III. THE EMERGING ASAT THREAT ............................................. 1200
A .  The  Hazards of  D ebris ..................................................... 1202
B. The Historical Pattern of ASAT Development .................. 1208
C.   W hich  Verbs  to  Study  ....................................................... 1215
D. ASAT Treaty Negotiation Efforts ...................................... 1215
IV. GENERAL CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ASATs .. 1222
A .  The  Objective  Element ..................................................... 1224
B.   The  Subjective  Element .................................................... 1225
C. Weighing the Objective and Subjective Elements of
Customary International Law .......................................... 1226
D. Customary International Law and Treaties ..................... 1228
E. The U.N. General Assembly, the Conference on
Disarmament, and the Articulation of Customary
International Law   ............................................................ 1231
F.  The Customary International Law of Space .................... 1232
G. The Customary International Law of ASATs .................... 1235
V. THE CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW OF
ARMED CONFLICT AND ASATs ............................................. 1242
A .  D iscrim ination  ................................................................ 1244
B .  P roportionality  ................................................................. 1246
C .  N ecessity  .......................................................................... 1247
VI. CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW    AND  A SA Ts ................................................................... 1249
t    © 2009 by David A. Koplow. All rights reserved.
*    The author wishes to thank Juergen Altmann, Hope Babcock, James Baker, Samuel
Black, Michel Bourbonniere, Barry Carter, Stephen Dycus, Nancy Gallagher, David Graham,
David Jonas, Michael Krepon, Paul Larsen, Lindsay Pullen, Gary Solis, Steven Solomon,
David Stewart, Frank Walsh, Edith Brown Weiss and members of the Georgetown University
Law Center's faculty workshop, as well as students in my seminar on Issues in Disarmament:
Proliferation and Terrorism for their advice, commentary, and counsel regarding the thesis
and analysis of this Article, and Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff for his generous support during
its preparation. An earlier version of this argument was presented to the Conference on Disar-
mament (CD) in Geneva, Switzerland, in March 2008, and subsequently published as
International Legal Standards and the Weaponization of Outer Space, in SECURITY IN SPACE:
THE NEXT GENERATION (U.N. Inst. for Disarmament Research ed., 2008) [hereinafter NEXT
GENERATION]. Any errors or omissions, of course, are solely the responsibility of the author.

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