Secure World Foundation

The Secure World Foundation (SWF) is a Broomfield, Colorado-based private operating foundation established in 2002, dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and cooperative uses of outer space through policy research, multilateral engagement, and public education — focused specifically on space security, space sustainability, and space governance as interconnected domains where inadequate international frameworks risk destabilizing the growing space environment.

SWF's research agenda covers the full spectrum of space security policy: transparency and confidence-building measures (TCBMs) between spacefaring nations, norms of responsible behavior for satellite operations, space debris mitigation and remediation policy, the militarization and potential weaponization of space, national space legislation development in emerging spacefaring nations, and the governance of emerging activities including lunar resource extraction and commercial space station operations.

The organization produces policy briefs, technical analyses, and annual reports (including the widely cited "Global Counterspace Capabilities" report co-authored with researchers that tracks development and deployment of anti-satellite weapons and electronic warfare capabilities by China, Russia, the United States, India, and other nations).

As a convener, SWF organizes and facilitates multi-stakeholder dialogues — bringing together government officials, military space operators, commercial satellite companies, academics, and civil society organizations — at both informal workshops and in formal multilateral processes including the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) processes on outer space transparency and confidence-building measures. This convening role is particularly valuable in space policy given the multi-actor complexity where governments, commercial operators, and military establishments all interact in the same orbital environment.

SWF maintains offices in Washington D.C. and Europe (Brussels) in addition to the Colorado headquarters, positioning staff to engage with policymakers in the US government, NATO, EU institutions, and European national space agencies. The organization is funded through philanthropic foundations and government grants, maintaining policy independence from industry and government constituencies it engages. Key staff members are frequently cited as expert witnesses in Congressional hearings and as advisors to government space policy processes.