Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Gaffney, Frank J. Jr.
n a rnovie theater near you, Clint Eastwood and a retinue of aging supporting actors are struggling to prevent a Soviet-era satellite based on stolen, but obsolete, U.S. technology and armed...
...China is thought to have a similar system under development...
...www.prudentbear.com The American Spectator - November ~ooo 29...
...They want to negotiate, among other things, multilateral arms control agreements that would ostensibly "ban" the possession and use of anti-satellite weapons and weapons in space...
...the media ,,i~otably, satellite-enabled, real-time distribution of information...
...Provided courtesy Missilethreat.com...
...The repercussions could be even greater if an attack were aimed at disrupting the growing reliance both the U.S...
...technology and armed with nuclear weapons from destroying some American city...
...9 "Space nlincs," satellites placed in orbit in proximity to targeted space vehicles or maneuvered towards them and then detonated at a time of the attacker's choosing...
...They, are essential to our national security and commercial well-being...
...Still, the Clinton-Gore administration has done its best to quash missile defense and has permitted discussions intended to iead to actual negotiations on a space weapons ban to get underway at the U.N...
...of the particulars of S#ace Co~boys might be, its main point is both valid and of the utmost importaHcc: The United Stak's must be able to exercise controI o~er outer space--for both military and commercial rcasous-and it is dreadfull\ illequipped to do so...
...civilian sector has become every bit as dependent upon space as is the American military, elnploying orbiting constellations of privately owned satellites to power revolutions in, among other industries: telecommunications (for example, the world-wide proliferation of mobile phone systemsi...
...case, are located all over the world...
...Unfortunately, warnings like General Loh's have largely gone unheeded by the Clinton-Gore administration...
...It's in their interest, as they see it, to keep the American people hostage to their nuclear arsenals...
...access to or control of outer space...
...The prospectus contains more complete information, including fees and expenses...
...As the former commander of U.S...
...Naturally, these ideas enjoy the strong support of the Russians and Chinese...
...Conference on Disarmament in Geneva...
...They know full well that such accords would have a decided]y asymmetrical effect...
...In February 1998 , the U.S...
...Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results...
...These measures would do much to reverse Bill Clinton and A1 Gore's failure to provide adequately for either assured U.S...
...This is hardly a new insight...
...9 Electronic counter-measures...
...The U.S...
...military and civilian economy arc placing on space assets for COlmnunications and navigation purposes...
...Such facilities are inherently vulnerable to attack with such prosaic means as satchel charges, mortars, and truck bombs...
...Unless protected against such effects, replacement parts could also be destroyed, greatly adding to the length of time it would take to bring affected systems back on-line...
...He is currently the president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington...
...and a host of applications of fine Global Positioning Satellite OPS) technology for con> i n e r t i a l aiqd c o l ] s u n l e r users...
...Doing so will require more than just steering clear of bogus arms-control agreements...
...When the Clinton administration anemically protested China's intimidation of Taiwan (upset over Taiwan's elections--the first truly free elections in 5,~176176 years of Chinese history--Red China lobbed two missiles perilously close to the island democracy), one Chinese Comnmnist official asked pointedly if&nerica would be willing to sacrifice Los Angeles to a Chinese nuclear missile for the sake of Taiwan...
...Just ]~<m dependent xx e are all bccoming on the reliable, mqh~tcrrnptcd t~sc of space was brought home to millions of Americaus \~ hen, in NIay 1999...
...The folly of these vetoes--which were subsequently reversed, although the technologies involved continue to languish--was on the minds of the members of the congressionally chartered National Defense Panel (NDP) when they wrote in late 1997: "Unrestricted use of space has become a major strategic interest of the United States...
...It is a national scandal that the U.S...
...Even if bans on anti-satellite weapons could be verified and offer real protection to our space assets, the United States would still need to prevent others from using space against this country and its interests...
...space assets may be interrupted in the filture by hostile action...
...And space-based weapons, whether missiles or directed energy devices like lasers, can provide the means of intercepting such attacking missiles when the3.' are most vulnerable-- namely, in their boost-phase...
...put it in January 1998: "It is almost frightening when yon [realize]...how little we have allowed for the protection and the space superiority of those assets.., there is the strong possibility that a determined adversary can intrude, can jam, can, in fact, damage or destroy those space assets if they wanted to...
...Air Force accidentally jammed the signal along 186 miles of the Eastern seaboard with only a five-watt transmission...
...to be able to assure its own access and use of outer space and, if necessary, to deny others the capacity to do so...
...In a future conflict, the lives and mission success of our armed forces personnel may depend upon whether the U.S...
...To be useful, satellite data must be available on earth...
...the means to exercise control over others' use of this theater of operations...
...As the National Defense Panel admonished: The United States should "take steps to ensure the capability to deny enemies the use of space...
...They can also cost-effectively provide truly global coverage...
...Incredible though it may seem, far from seeing to it that the United States has at its disposal assured means by which it could prevent such intelligence or other deleterious actions from occurring in space, the Clinton-Gore team has serially sabotaged even modest efforts to give the U.S...
...The United States would consider itself bound not to violate the spirit or the letter of its obligations...
...9 Attacks on ground stations...
...For example, airlines and airports around the country are phasing in a decision taken in I998 bv the Federal Aviation Administration to make the 26 No v e m b e r ~ o o o " The American Spectator extremely accurate Global Positioning Satellite system the principal technique for navigation by commercial aviation...
...9 The use of "directascent" missilc systems that could citbcr home in ()H a satellite or explode a nuclear device near it...
...held senior positions in the Reagan Defense Department...
...Evidence continues to mount that such prospective adversaries- even relatively low-tech groups or nations-are pnrsning a variety of means of doing just that...
...Improvements would also allow us to determine whether, when they malfunction or cease to operate, it is because they have come under attack...
...If not, it could acquire that capability at any time, thanks to Russia's willingness to sell its advanced military technology to China...
...space surveillance capabilities, so as to accurately characterize threats to its satellites...
...In fact, Messrs...
...Over the past decade, moreover, the U.S...
...9 Enhance the survivability of satellites by reducing their size and cost...
...The value of such capabilities was demonstrated brilliantly in the Persian Gulf\Vat...
...In recent years, though, such satellites have ceased to provide capabilities that are "merely nice to have...
...North Korea probably has this capability, as do Russia and China...
...For the same reasons, both Russia and China fervently oppose U.S...
...29, 1995) through March 31,2000 was -17.0...
...As a group of 43 distinguished retired generals and admirals noted in an open letter to President Clinton in January 1998: "We can think of few challenges likely to pose a greater danger to our future securi~ posture than that of adversaries seeking to make hostile use of@ace-or to deny us the abilit\ to dominate that theater of operations.'" Space systems will atso be of critical importance for any effective anti-missile defense system...
...will also have to: _9 Improve U.S...
...Instead, the Clinton-Gore administration has actively promoted Russian and Chinese efforts to dominate the space-launch market--a development that can have dire strategic and commercial implications...
...F or quite some time, serious military strategists have worried about the United States' growing vulnerability to attacks on its space infrastructure...
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...9 Use "stealth" techniques to make spacecraft difficult to track and attack...
...ter all, Ainericans have been making use ofttne exoatmospherc since shortly after the USSR literally propelled us into the space age with its surprise lamqch of Sputnik, the first functioning satellite placed into orbit, l-'or most of the following decades, the principal user oftlnc "High Frontier" has been the U.S...
...9 Lasers, or othcr directcd energy weapons, which can be used to burn out sensors that enable the spacecraft to perform its mission...
...Air Combat Command, General John "Mike" Loh (USAF Ret...
...U nfortunately, there is growing cause for concern that use of the GPS and/or other U.S...
...For example, sensors based in space, capable of detecting ballistic missiles early in their flight and of vectoring defensive systems to destroy them, would greatly enhance the performance of terrestrial weapon systems...
...All three involved defense R&D programs that were objectionable to him because they could have given rise to space control capabilities--the Clementine Microsatellite Technology Demonstrator (also known as Clementine II), the Army's Kinetic-Kill Anti-Satellite Interceptor, and the Military Space Plane...
...You should realize that investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost...
...This disconnect between the Clinton-Gore rhetoric and policy governing space control has become all the more worrisome with the proliferation of what amounts to commercial spy satellites...
...These devices are capable of providing hostile powers with near-real-time intelligence about American forces and 'operations...
...The present GPS system in particular is vulnerable to electronic jamming...
...Indeed, the more dependent the United States has become on space both as a theater of military operations and as an indispensable ingredient in its 21st Century economy, the more incentive we have created for potential enemies to impede or deny our use of outer space...
...In the brief period President Clinton was able to wield his line-item veto, he used it (explicitly or implicitly) for policy reasons on only three occasions...
...9 Space-based missile defense systems would have the potential to perform anti-satellite missions...
...For their part, Russia and China would, as usual, disregard such obligations...
...Indeed, China may already have the capacity to damage, under specific conditions, optical sensors on satellites...
...For example, the U.S...
...And it has given the green light to conclude a "GAP" that may make it harder to maintain critical capabilities to get into, let alone to control, outer space...
...A single nuclear weapon detonated 300 miles above the surface of the earth would create an EMP wave large enough to disrupt eleclronic equipment over much of the United States...
...Artwork by Don Foley...
...space access technology...
...However implausible some FRANK J. GAFFNEY, JR...
...These include: _9 Dedicated anti-satellite (ASAT) systems using Inissiles that are ground- or airlaunched...
...military, whose satellites perform a variety of ever-more vita] communications, iutelligence, navigation, targeting, and weather-monitoring functions...
...Modern satellites beam such information down to facilities which, in the U.S...
...On detonation, nuclear weapons naturally produce EMP in the form of microwaves, an invisible form of energy which renders unshielded elecThe American Spectator _9 No v e m b e r 2 o o o 27 tronic equipment useless by "frying" silicon chips, semiconductors, and other components...
...They also made it clear that"the United States cannot afford to lose the edge it now holds in militaryrelated space operations...
...9 Revive U.S...
...can ensure, should the need arise, that such intelligence cannot reach unfriendly hands, at least temporarily...
...a commercial satcI]itc bridly i,mlfuuctioned, catlsing millions of pagers across the country suddclflv to stop worki,g, lft]lc problelu had been caused, not by an ephemeral technical glitch, but by someone deliberate1~ attacking the satellite or its supporting infrastructure, the disruption could have been of far longer dnration-and entailed nlore serious consequences...
...Clinton and Gore have evinced a hostility toward the United States exercising control of space that appears rooted in an ideological attachment to the preposterous notion that space is not now--and must not become--"militarized...
...As former secretary of defense and energy and director of the Central Intelligence Agency James Schlesinger has observed: "We have lost our exclusiveness, exclusive access to these kinds of capabilities, and perhaps even more important, we have lost the element of surprise...
...Obviously, once that change-over is completed, in the event the GPS system is shut down, even temporarily, the consequences could range from substantial inconvenience to costly disasters entailing loss of life...
...This sentiment has prevailed, notwithstanding successive editions of the administration's own annual "National Security Strategy" that have called for the U.S...
...This article is adapted from a new monograph entitled Clinton's Legacy: The Dangerous Decade 2ooo-zolo, prepared by the Center and published and distributed by Blanchard and Company...
...I deologues, inside and outside the Clinton-Gore administration, are trying to make matters worse...
...28 No v e m b e r 2 o o o _9 The American Spectator The administration is also trying to nail down international agreement on a new Global Action Plan Against Missile Proliferation (GAP...
...The prospectus should be read carefully before you invest or send money...
...The Russians are reportedly marketing a four-watt localized jamming system precisely for the purpose of countering the U.S...
...Without that access and control, the nation's vital military and civilian interests in space may be headed for the last round-up...
...9 Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons capable of dealing a crippling blow to both "unhardened" space assets and ground-based information systems...
...N What if the stock market crashed...
...Army has adapted 2o-year-old technology for its Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL), which successfully disabled an American satellite during a test in 1997...
...has not taken advantage of cost-effective, reusable space-launch technologies...
...The draft GAP under negotiation explicitly calls for the United States (and other signatories) "to reduce national holdings of ballistic missiles and of space-launch vehicles (SLVs) to the maximum extent possible...
...its ability to use, let alone control, space would be greatly diminished...
...implementation of a national missile defense...
Vol. 33 • November 2000 • No. 9
