Vice Presidential Pool Reports of December 20, 2023

VPOTUS pool report #1

Good afternoon!

I'm your pooler today for VPOTUS Kamala Harris's trip to Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium for the National Space Council meeting.

Pool is waiting in the van at the EOC for the VP motorcade to leave for the Auditorium.

Here's some Backgrounder on the meeting (*the White House sent out a Fact Sheet earlier.)

This National Space Council meeting will be the first to ever focus on international partnerships, and will include topics such as the role of space in promoting American leadership and strength abroad, the contribution of space capabilities to improving life here on Earth, and how the United States is leading an unprecedented coalition of nations in the return to the Moon.

Vice President Harris will announce that, alongside American astronauts, the United States will land an international astronaut on the surface of the Moon by the end of the decade as part of the Artemis Program.

As part of a larger set of announcements across the civil, commercial, and national security sectors of space, the Vice President will also announce the release of the U.S. Novel Space Active

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the GPS

About 200-300 industry leaders and members are expected to attend today's event.

More to come

VPOTUS pool report #2

VPOTUS Kamala Harris came out of the West wing and entered her car at 1:36, motorcade began moving at 1:37pm. We arrived at the auditorium at 1:40pm.

Before her remarks, the Vice President met with representatives from Artemis Accord signatory nations, her National Space Council Users' Advisory Group, and members of the National Space Council.

All 33 Artemis Accords nations are represented at today's National Space Council meeting.

She entered the room at 2:03, accompanied by the Council members, including Secretary Blinken, NSC Advisor Jake Sullivan and Commerce Deputy Secretary and took the stage at 2:09 and spoke for 10 minutes before leaving the stage and exiting the building.

Before she began her remarks, she acknowledged the astronauts in the room.

MTC

VPOTUS pool report #3

More background notes on VP Kamala Harris's leadership on international space and the Artemis Accords from the VP's office:

Since taking office, the Vice President has consistently built international partnerships through her leadership on the world stage during her 15 trips overseas. She has visited 20 countries, and met with more than 150 world leaders to strengthen America's alliances and partnerships around the globe.

She has also personally led the development of international rules and norms for outer space, including the dramatic expansion of Artemis Accords signatories from nine to 33 nations, and the development of an international norm following her announcement in April 2022 that the United States committed to not conduct destructive, direct ascent anti-satellite tests.

The National Space Council advises and assists the President in the development and implementation of space policy and strategy and is comprised of Cabinet-level Secretaries and other senior Executive Branch officials. The National Space Council synchronizes the nation's civil, commercial, and national security space activities to advance the broader priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration.

Last year, at the second meeting of the National Space Council, Vice President Harris focused on advancing Administration priorities in expanding space science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development, human space exploration, and rules for commercial novel space activities

Since the Council last met, the United States has made unprecedented advances in expanding U.S. international space partnerships, including engagements with:

• Africa: As part of the President's U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit in December 2022, the first-ever U.S.-Africa Space Forum was held. This Summit led to the first African nations (Rwanda and Nigeria) signing the Artemis Accords and the announcement of a number of commercial cooperative projects across the continent. In October 2023, the Department of Commerce held, in partnership with the African Union, the first-ever U.S.-Africa Commercial Space Stakeholders Meeting, which included delegates from U.S. and African governments, civil society, and industry.

• Australia: During the visit of Prime Minster Albanese in October 2023, the United States and Australia signed a space Technology Safeguards Agreement, welcomed progress in negotiations of a bilateral space framework agreement, and encouraged further joint commercial investment across all sectors, including space situational awareness and commercial space stations.

• France: Vice President Harris met with President Macron at NASA Headquarters during his State Visit in November 2022. Following an agreement between Vice President Harris and President Macron, the United States and France also held the first-ever Comprehensive Dialogue on Spacewhich resulted in a range of ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation on climate, commercial space, and security.

• India: The Administration has overseen an incredible expansion of the scope and ambition of the U.S.-India space partnership, including ongoing development of a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation, planning for a joint effort to the International Space Station (ISS), and joint construction of the soon-to-launch NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth observation mission.

• Indo-Pacific Quad: In addition to holding several workshops on using space to address extreme weather events and promoting responsible behavior in outer space, the Quad Space Cooperation Working Group in May 2023 expanded its mandate to encompass commercial space cooperation among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan.

• Italy: Following a visit of the Italian Prime Minister in July 2023, the United States and Italy have for the first time agreed to develop a bilateral space dialogue, which will take place in 2024.

• Japan: Following up on a previous engagement between Vice President Harris and Prime Minister Kishida, Japan and the United States signed a Space Framework Agreement during Prime Minister Kishida's visit in January 2023. The two nations have also expanded the scope of the existing Comprehensive Dialogue on Space to incorporate for the first-time commercial space cooperation.

• Mongolia: During the visit of the Prime Minister of Mongolia to Washington, D.C. in August 2023, Vice President Harris discussed with the Prime Minister opportunities for space partnerships with Mongolia, which was followed by a visit by the Prime Minister to NASA to highlight areas of potential cooperation.

• Republic of Korea (ROK): During theROK State Visit in April 2023, Vice President Harris and President Yoon visited NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to highlight the joint partnership between ROK and the United States on climate and air quality sensors and to strengthen cooperation across all sectors of space, leading to the U.S.-ROK Space Week held in November 2023.

• Saudi Arabia: In November 2023, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced that the two nations had begun negotiation of a Space Framework Agreement to enhance space cooperation in multiple space sectors.

• Singapore: The United States and Singapore held the first-ever Civil Space Dialogue in October 2023, which was an outcome of the Vice President's trip to Singapore in 2021.

• United Kingdom (UK): During the visit of Prime Minister Sunak in June 2023, the United States and the UK agreed to deepen partnerships across all sectors of space cooperation.

• U.S.-Japan-ROK: During the Camp David Summit in August 2023, the three nations announced that they would further enhancetrilateral dialogue on space security. The first meeting of this dialogue was held in Seoul in November 2023.

• Western Hemisphere: During the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders' Summit in Washington, D.C. in November 2023, Chile agreed to lead a new regional space initiative.

VPOTUS pool report #4

Before exiting the meeting, the VP handed off to National Security Advisor to moderate the panel session of the meeting.

Pool was informed that the VP was heading to another schedule event.

The meeting was carried live at whitehouse.gov/live

Here are some more colors from the event:

Below are the Biden-Harris administration Cabinet and senior advisor on stage with the VP:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken
National Security Council Advisor Jake Sullivan
Deputy Defense Secretary Katherine Hicks
Vice President Joint Chief of Staff
Deputy Commerce Secretary

33 flags representing the National Space Council member nations were displayed on stage under a half ornate dome, off the far right of the VP podium

A big stimulated space globe was displayed at the inner exterior of the auditorium. Inside the auditorium, Four large space pictures were displayed on stage behind the panelists.

Canadian Space Agency Astronaut and Artemis 2 Crew member Colonel Jeremy Henson room the stage and spoke for a few minutes before introducing the VP to speak. In his remarks, he thanked VP Harris specifically for her strong leadership as the chair of the National Space Council. " Three years ago, she set forth a vision that will advance innovation and promote all the opportunities of space for all humanity and under her leadership, the council continues to make significant progress expanding international partnership."

Upon staking the stage, VP Kamala Harris opened her remarks welcoming and thanking the members in the room. She also noted it's the 4th anniversary of the establishment of the Space Force and acknowledged the guardians in the room, asking them to stand up for recognition.

"One of the primary way to expand the partnership is by strengthening international partnership, combining resources, tech skills with international partners in furtherance of our collective vision

She spoke about the three priorities for the space council: 1) tackling the climate crisis,
2) establishing new international rules and norms for the peace and responsible use of space and
3) advancing human space exploration

She said nations must work together with more ambition and urgency to protect our world. "Global collaboration to take on global challenges"

She announced next year the Council will launch a satellite to collect air pollution data across the Southern Hemisphere, data that will help hundreds of millions of people.

She concluded her remarks with this:

"Space is a place of extra ordinary opportunity. Our tasks and duty as a nation must be to work together to make that opportunity real and to preserve it for future generation."

Before exiting the room, She handed the meeting off to her National Security Advisor to moderate the panel session of the meeting.

Pool didn't see the VP's motorcade leave. Pool exited the building at 2:55pm.

Just impt addendum: Last week, The Artemis 2 crew members and their families visited the White House and met with President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris, in their respective offices on Thursday (December 14th). Afterwards, they came out to the stakeout and spoke with reporters for about 10 minutes.

That's a wrap for pool report for the VP's 3rd National Space Council meeting. It's been my pleasure.

Have a good rest of the work day and Wishing everyone a Happy Holidays!