A new classification memo rewrites two decades of secrecy The Department of Defense just approved a policy that drops the classification ceiling on a swath of its most guarded space programs. Deputy Secretary of Defen…

Plumb told Breaking Defense that the old rules “are no longer applicable to the current environment that involves national security space.” The revised policy does not make every program public; instead it shifts many…

Technical fallout: refuelable craft and shared tech One immediate technical benefit is the ability to expose refuel‑in‑orbit capabilities that were previously siloed. A recent Ars Technica report noted that a newly‑ap…

The policy also clears the path for sharing details about the Silent Barker “watchdog” satellite, launched by United Launch Alliance in September 2023. The Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office disclosed …