The Toronto Star, March 26, 2001
TARGETING THE 'ULTIMATE HIGH GROUND'
BY: Kathleen KennaSTAR WARS: BEHIND THE U.S. MISSILE PLAN
Last of three parts
WASHINGTON - A once-fantastic vision of American military control of the heavens is so closely identified with the goals of U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that he has been dubbed Darth Vader.
Rumsfeld is the key promoter of America's controversial national missile defence plan, a futuristic system that would destroy enemy long-range rockets from land, sea and space.
Just prior to his cabinet appointment, Rumsfeld led a commission that released a major study assessing U.S. security and capability in space.
That commission issued a 100-page report in January calling for U.S. " superiority" in space and its "mastering operations in space."
It also called for U.S. weapons in space.
Supporters say the system will protect the U.S. and its allies from missile attacks launched by "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iraq. But the proposal has angered Russia and China and raised fears of a new arms race.
Canada has not committed to "Son of Star Wars" yet and other U.S. allies such as France are critical of the scheme.
The U.S. already is spending billions of dollars in developing space-based laser weapons, as well as the $60 billion national missile defence system teaming satellites and non-nuclear warheads that would explode in space.
Several nations, including Russia, China and the U.S., have worked on anti- satellite weapons that would jam, disable and kill rival space sensors.
While conceding there is a public "sensitivity" to weaponizing space, Rumsfeld's 13-member Space Commission contends the U.S. should have that capability "for offensive or defensive purposes."
President George W. Bush should "have the option to deploy weapons in space to deter threats to, and if necessary, defend against attacks on U.S. interests," the report states.
U.S. failure to control space invites a "Space Pearl Harbour," the commission warns.
Throughout history, aggressors always have sought the high ground in conflicts, and so it's inevitable that the world's only superpower covets the "ultimate high ground," says John Pike, an international weapons expert. "Whoever controls space has control of the Earth. If the U.S. is in a position to control Earth from outer space, there's nothing to stop us. Of course we're going to do it."
Rumsfeld told his Senate confirmation hearing in January that "defence of space assets" is one of his top priorities.
The Rumsfeld report insists: "The present extent of U.S. dependence on space, the rapid pace at which this dependence is increasing and the vulnerabilities it creates, all demand that U.S. national security space interests be recognized as a top national security priority."
'Whoever controls space has control of the Earth' The U.S. owns about 300 satellites, including about 100 military sensors of an estimated 750 orbiting Earth. The $80 billion international space industry forecasts another 1,500 satellites - for everything from wireless Internet connections to digital TV - are scheduled to be launched in the next few decades.
The Pentagon and CIA are scheduled to replace all U.S. reconnaissance satellites over the next decade at a projected cost of $60 billion.
While many U.S. military satellites are considered radiation-proof and bear other shields, most commercial and civil satellites - the ones that guide ambulances, for example - have little protection because of the prohibitive cost.
Americans have long been world leaders in militarizing space. Defence experts estimate the U.S. already controls about 80 per cent of the world's military satellites.
Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War - the Pentagon often calls it the world's " first space war" - the U.S. military has become more reliant on satellites for intelligence, as well as guiding weapons and moving troops.
During the 1999 Kosovo war, some Americans tried to buy hand-held global positioning system units for family members in combat because troops were so reliant on satellite-transmitted data and didn't have enough equipment.
The global positioning system is used by everything from military ships to jets. It is used by recreational boaters, hikers and even farmers trying to perfect "precision" agriculture based on satellite information.
"Space domination is something we've actually had for some time, when you consider how much our military space systems lifted the fog of battle in Kosovo and the Gulf," says Pike. "One of the reasons the U.S. is the world's only superpower is because of our military space systems. No one can match them."
But Washington should resist its obvious urge to develop anti-satellite and other space weapons, adds Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia- based think tank on defence policy.
"Space should be a sanctuary from which American military satellites can operate to support troops on the ground," he says. "Attacks on satellites should be seen as untenable as attacking hospital ships."
There is no global treaty banning all space weapons.
The Outer Space Treaty signed by most nations in 1967 prohibits weapons of mass destruction in space or putting weapons on the moon or other planets.
The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union bans developing, testing or using space-based missile defence systems.
The current Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - the U.S. Congress refused to sign it last year - bans nuclear tests or nuclear explosions in space.
No treaty bans anti-satellite weapons such as lasers. Rumsfeld opposes any deal that would outlaw space weapons. He has been a long-time opponent of chemical weapons-ban treaties and anti-nuclear pacts.
For the past decade, the U.S. has consistently abstained from voting on United Nations' resolutions urging members to avoid an arms race in space. The votes win approval from most of the other U.N. members.
"We need a public groundswell - like we had from (against) land mines in Ottawa - for a treaty banning the stationing of weapons in space, that the U. S. would be forced to sign," says researcher Dan Smith of the non-profit Centre for Defence Information in Washington.
"We should ban all weapons in space before anyone puts anything up there. Once they are there, no treaty will have a chance against them."
Russia, China and key U.S. allies such as Britain have warned any missile defence scheme could trigger a new global arms race.
"Space will become a new weapons base and battlefield," China's disarmament spokesperson Sha Zukang said last year. "Since other big powers will not sit and look unconcerned, this will inevitably mean the extension of the arms race into space."
The U.S. risks initiating the very conflict Rumsfeld and other military and congressional leaders insist they're trying to avoid.
"It's mind-boggling. I really can't understand why people like Donald Rumsfeld want to go down this road," says Lisbeth Gronlund of the Union of Concerned Scientists, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It can be very dangerous.
"If the U.S. is going to do it (create space weapons), then others will follow. It's a really big incentive for less sophisticated countries without satellites to take that fight one step further and try to shoot down one of our satellites."
The U.S. is in a unique position to shape international norms, yet appears bent on building missile defence systems and space-based weapons over the objections of all its allies and nuclear nations such as India, China and Russia.
While the Rumsfeld report doesn't call outright for a U.S. space combat force, it recommends the White House approve a new space policy that makes it possible. It also calls for a separate Space Corps of leaders in the future and says "a military department for space" may be needed to ensure the U.S. has independent space systems to answer "hostile actions."
"It's very pre-Cold War and it's wrong," Gronlund says. "At its core, the U.S. is saying, if the world is that chaotic and if you can't rely on institutions or laws or legal constraints, all we're left with is our military strength and we'd better go for it whole hog."
Congress is set to debate the Rumsfeld report in mid-April.
Copyright 2001 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
