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Download Full Paper At the dawn of the Space Age, Earth’s orbit was accessible by only two nations, the United States and the Soviet Union. Today, it is an international and commercial theater of operations for countries and companies around the globe. American power is still dominant in this arena, but it is not absolute. Other nations, both allied and adversarial, have entered the arena with their own organic space programs.Protecting US national interests is unachievable if the Department of Defense (DoD)1 relies solely on traditional military-owned space systems. International partners integrated alongside intelligence community, civil, commercial, and military capabilities must band together to create a hybrid architecture.2 An effective, integrated hybrid architecture will provide the speed, capacity, interoperability, and resilience to ensure American space superiority, deter adversaries like China, and, if necessary, defeat them. Delay in fielding an international hybrid architecture risks ceding the advantage permanently.The US Space Force (USSF) must embrace international counterparts as valued partners, which can amplify the reach and power of the hybrid architecture into an enduring advantage for America and its allies. That means removing barriers to entry, avoiding classification challenges, and ensuring that partners are properly incentivized to support and participate in operations. It also means using USSF tools to bring long-standing allies and new-found partners to the table to advance strategic goals.The successes of the Artemis Accords for civil space3 and Operation Olympic Defender4 offer a template for a new set of national security-focused accords that could establish a shared vision of “peace through strength” in space. This set of agreements (referred to here as the Athena Accords, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare who provided advice and protection to heroes) would offer myriad benefits to American and allied security in space. The Accords would encourage allies to invest and partner more closely, encourage multilateral national security space collaboration, and support complex multinational exercises, wargames, and real-world operations. In so doing, the United States, US allies and partners, and other hybrid architecture participants can practice multi-domain operations and create mature policies for responding to space-based threats.Not all countries will be able to participate in a space hybrid architecture. Space has always been, and remains, a complex, costly, and constrained theater to access. Understanding which international partners are best positioned to enter into and support hybrid architecture operations can streamline effective recruitment efforts.