would be consulted should be balanced against the possibility of a bilateral agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union in which they would engage not to place any armaments of any kind into the space environment. An assessment of the better forum in which to deal with the security issue would be timely. If national conduct is to be influenced by the international law established in the 1967 Principles Treaty, the 1972 Liability Convention, and the 1973 ITU Convention and Final Protocol, it would appear to be wise to extend national acceptance of such agreements. It is a surprising fact that only 35 States are parties to all of these agreements. An assessment of the fact that only one African State is on the list or only three South American countries have accepted these commitments would be highly instructive. Such a study should contain policy recommendations as to means and strategies employable in enlarging the clientele for these agreements. A wholly separate, but associated issue, relates particularly to the legal force of the Principles Treaty with respect to non-parties. At the present there are 75 States parties to this agreement including all of the space-resource States. Have they by this Treaty and by their practices developed a body of international law--customary as well as formal--that establishes principles, standards, and rules for all countries--signatory or not? Clarification of this situation might ease the decisional process in the United States as it plans for the use of a SPS. Much of what has been identified above relates to further national and international assessments of both long-range and short-range problems. See Appendix E and F.
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