Celestial Navigation The Coast Guard and DHS in a new era of space activities by iranga Kahangama Assistant Secretary for Cyber, Infrastructure, Risk, and Resilience Department of Homeland Security D epartment of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard are not often mentioned in conversations about space, but this large ecosystem demands champions for cybersecurity, resilience, and contingency planning. Today, data from space assets and innovations resulting from space activities permeate our homeland and play vital roles in our security. Those innovations come with the responsibility to defend and protect these assets as they grow in number and complexity. While today’s space environment features a growing commercial space industry and an increase in deployed warfighting capabilities, the Coast Guard’s space mission is not a new one. It’s rich history in supporting space activities will help it sail into the future and remain on the leading edge of protecting our homeland and mari- time commerce. The Coast Guard has a history of supporting American space activities dating back to the earliest days of U.S. space exploration. In March 1965, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant left its homeport in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to join 19 other ships assem- bled for the March 23, 1965, launch of Gemini 3. In the first Gemini mission with two astronauts, Gus Grissom and John Young would launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to spend two weeks in orbit. The astronauts performed docking and rendezvous maneuvers between the command module and the lunar lander that proved central to the American space program and its eventual mission to the moon. Today, the evolution of space activ- ities in the United States includes a strong commercial space sector and a significant increase of on-orbit assets. The Coast Guard’s modern mission includes the use of robust and resil- ient space-based data, and new capa- bilities are coming online constantly. This continued innovation is driving niCK reese Deputy Director for Emerging Technology Policy Department of Homeland Security economic opportunities and has implications for home- land security. As new systems come online, the potential for our adversaries to target those assets and compro- mise our mission readiness is undeniable. In December 2020, more than 55 years since Vigilant set sail for the Gemini 3 recovery mission, the White House released a new National Space Policy making it clear that space is a contested warfighting domain. It is no secret that some nation states seek primacy in space, and test antisatellite capabilities to exert influence. Following Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks on April 18, 2022, the United States introduced a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly on September 12, 2022, to create a binding resolution banning the conduct of destructive, direct ascent antisatellite missile test- ing. These dangerous tests create on-orbit debris from a ground-based missile system which poses the most significant threat to our satellite assets and our low-earth orbit human space activity. The United States has already committed to not undertaking these dangerous tests and we hope to make this the norm internationally. Our Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant (WMEC­617) was commissioned in October 1964, and homeported in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1990, the cutter moved to its new homeport at Port Canaveral, Florida. Coast Guard photo Summer 2023 Proceedings 31