Speaker: International Cooperation for Space Situational Awareness

Victoria Samson is the Chief Director, Space Security and Stability for Secure World Foundation and has over twenty-five years of experience in military space and security issues. At SWF, she is the editor of their annual global counterspace capability threat assessment and organizes annual conferences on space security at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Before joining SWF, Ms. Samson served as a Senior Analyst for the Center for Defense Information (CDI), where she leveraged her expertise in missile defense, nuclear reductions, and space security issues to conduct in-depth analysis and media commentary. Prior to her time at CDI, Ms. Samson was the Senior Policy Associate at the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, a consortium of arms control groups in the Washington, D.C. area, where she worked on issues related to ballistic missile defense and nuclear weapons reduction. Before that, she was a researcher at Riverside Research Institute, where she worked on war-gaming scenarios for the Missile Defense Agency’s Directorate of Intelligence.

Known throughout the space and security arena as a thought leader on policy and budgetary issues, Ms. Samson is often interviewed by multinational media outlets. She is also a prolific author of numerous op-eds, analytical pieces, journal articles, and updates on missile defense and space security matters. Ms. Samson is the chair of the Security Task Force for the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and a member of the Space Security Working Group of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)’s Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC).

Ms. Samson holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in political science with a specialization in international relations from UCLA and a Master of Arts (M.A.) in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.