The Center for the Study of Space Crime’s (CSCPG) paper titled, What Will Happen in the First Space Hostage Crisis?, discusses the potential for paralysis, given current operational mandates in the military and intelligence community (IC), along with potential solutions to these problems.

The paper is premised on the fact that hostage-taking is quite common on Earth. Criminal cartels, violent non-state actors, and pirates, to name a few of many potential threat actors, routinely take hostages and demand ransoms.

“Such groups, some of which are extremely well-funded, could perpetrate this type of attack in space, possibly using remote control methods such as a cyberattack on a commercial space station’s command and control (C2) systems,” the paper argued.

“A hostage crisis in space may sound like something from a movie, but given the increase in space travel, space industry, and space tourism, such an attack is almost inevitable in the coming decade,” predicts CSCPG executive director and co-author of the paper Marc Feldman.

“Our paper is not a criticism of the government’s lack of readiness for such an episode, but rather an assessment of where things stand based on current command structures, budgets, and operating assumptions,” Feldman said.

“In our view, there is time to prepare for a malicious actor taking hostages in space, but the work needs to begin soon.”

Feldman co-authored the paper with JD Cole, a former intelligence analyst, and Hugh Taylor, director of CSCPG.

Feldman and Taylor’s upcoming book Space Piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit, is scheduled for publication by John Wiley & Sons in January, 2025.

To download the paper, click here.