Israeli Embassy

First of all thank you very much for taking the time for this short interview. I would like to start by asking you to tell us a bit about your background and what work you are engaged in back in Israel.

Deborah Housen-Couriel

With pleasure. I’m an Israeli attorney and my specialization is cyber security law. I have my own private practice in cyber security law and regulation in Tel Aviv, and also work on the strategic and technical aspects of cybersecurity together with the leading firm Konfidas. Much of my professional time is also devoted to conducting academic research on different aspects of cyber security, cyber regulation, issues of data privacy versus national security, satellite communication and data security. Additionally, I’m really privileged to be involved in several efforts at the international level by lawyers and policymakers regarding the elucidation of international law norms and policy, with respect to both cyberspace and outer space. One example is the recent Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS) Project.

What is especially fascinating to me, and what I’m presenting at the workshop of the United Nations Office on Outer Space Affairs in Vienna this week, is the intersection between the two fields of cyber law and outer space law. They’re relatively new fields, each challenging in its own way.

Israeli Embassy

This brings me to my next question. What is the purpose of your stay in Vienna and can you tell us a bit about what kind of work lies ahead of you here?

Deborah Housen-Couriel

Israeli Embassy

Have you been at similar national or international conferences? What are the challenges you are dealing with? How would you describe Israel’s role in outer-space related issues?

Deborah Housen-Couriel

I do have some past experience with international conferences and intergovernmental organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union, the World Trade Organization and a few others. I think that what’s special about the UNOOSA conference this week is that a variety of experts - technical, legal and policymakers – are participating and openly sharing concerns regarding the future developments of UN work regarding outer space.

Israel has always been, and remains, a very present and active member of the international law and policy communities regarding space activities. And of course we have been an active space-faring nation for decades, with all of the technical and scientific know-how that is required. So it is in fact a key venue for Israel, allowing us to both share our experience related to space and to learn from other countries. This is an area with which Israel has been engaged consistently and I would hope, as an academic and a practitioner, that we will continue to ensure a high-level involvement in forums such as this one. Now that Israel has become an official member of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), there exists much opportunity in that direction.

Israeli Embassy

Maybe a bit more of a personal question: Why space law? Why is this something you got involved in?

Deborah Housen-Couriel

Great question – it’s not an obvious “first choice” field of specialization for international lawyers. But I belong to the generation that got to witness firsthand – or at least via television -  humankind’s first landing on the moon. I still remember that moment very clearly and it raised my awareness of outer space early on. Where it gets very interesting for me personally is the intersection between outer space law and cyber security law. One key focal point of the intersection between them is satellite transmissions, surveillance and other communications. They utilize the electromagnetic spectrum, which is part of the infrastructure of cyberspace. And these satellite capabilities are part of our daily experience. For instance, I was listening to the news this morning, and there was a piece on Hurricane Hermine on the eastern coast of the United States. It included weather satellite data, which help us with crucial questions relating to hurricane and other natural disasters ahead of time, and allow for populations to be warned and perhaps evacuated if necessary. This very much relates to our dependence on satellite communications and operations. How does this data get from outer space to Earth? Through cyberspace. So cyberspace and outer space are very much entwined in this context. Until now, the governance of these topics has been rather compartmentalized, and I feel very strongly that the conversation needs to begin about how they come together and influence one another.

Both outer space activities and cyber space activities bring immense benefits to humanity, and there is a real bounty of technological and scientific advances that we all receive from both of these fields. Our dependence on information from outer space and on very advanced technologies, however, also makes us vulnerable when disruptions take place. Many of the challenges for outer space activities, such as space debris, and in the cybersecurity field, such as the protection of critical infrastructure assets, are shared by a large group of states. This is why conferences such as the one held at the UN this week are important. The UN has in recent years established two separate GGEs (Group of Governmental Experts) on outer space and cyber security. These are important inter-governmental processes. The “Space GGE” report was released in 2013, and the “Cybersecurity GGE” report in 2015 – and, by the way, Israel was an active member of the latter GGE. So the UN has been actively engaged in both realms, and of course not only via GGE’s, but so far in separate processes. Both of the GGE processes produced recommendations on confidence-building measures (CBMs) which may lead to very practical outcomes at the international level. CBMs are very much about how the discussed issues meet the ground, so to speak, in terms of what state actors may begin doing in order to move from the theoretical to the practical.

Israeli Embassy

Maybe just one last question, before you head to the UN. What is your impression of Vienna so far?

Deborah Housen-Couriel

Well, all I have seen so far has been the amazingly efficient train ride here from the airport and a little bit of the colorful downtown. I am very interested, however, in the concept of “smart cities” and from what I have seen coming from the airport and from what I’ve been reading about Vienna, the city is on track to become one of these through its infrastructure development and leverage of cyberspace. If the easy use of the train is any sign, then this vision of Vienna seems to be something the Austrian government very proactively pursues. It could be yet another good example of how cyberspace capabilities bring enormous benefits to many aspects of our lives today. All the more reason to govern it wisely and well.