As he promised in his campaign platform, President Obama has moved quickly to distinguish his foreign policy from the Bush administration by pledging to pursue space arms control. The new Whitehouse.gov website has a short paragraph defining the Obama administration's defense agenda, including its take on military space

The usual suspects are already working to parse these paragraphs, with a few concerned that his moves could threaten our defense or jeopardize current defense contracts. It is unlikely that his administration will move quickly on this given the litany of more pressing foreign policy problems (ex. Iran, Iraq, Gaza, Pakistan, North Korea, etc.) that he will have to untangle. He also doesn't need to get involved in a battle with the Pentagon over defense spending priorities or their updated space operations doctrine this early in his administration.

However, the statement could simply be a diplomatic move, an olive branch to Russia in much the same way his Inaugural address was viewed by many as an overture to Iran. Russia has long been a proponent of a ban on space weapons, in part to express opposition to U.S. missile defense plans especially with U.S. proposals to base interceptors near their border in the Czech Republic and Poland. By signaling to Russia its willingness to negotiate on space weapons and missile defense, the Obama administration may be simply trying to dial down tensions with Russia, a tactic that for now seems to be working.

Whatever the plan, I've created a new keyword on Spacedebate.org -- "Obama Administration" to track all new articles and arguments related to administration proposals.