U.S. Announces New Policy
for Further Militarization of Space
A new U.S. space policy, signed by U.S.
President George Bush on August 31, 2006, was made public on October 11 with
the release of a 10-page unclassified summary. The new policy represents a
shift that will bring American space policy in line with other Bush
administration doctrines of unilateralism and pre-emptive strike. Without
openly saying so, the new policy is
really an endorsement of fighting "in, from and through" space.
The American space program has always been centred around its military applications. While the U.S. declares that it is committed to the
exploration and use of outer space by all nations for peaceful purposes, it has
always held that U.S. defence and
intelligence-related activities are 'peaceful purposes'. In this respect, the
new space policy of George W. Bush is the same as the old policy signed by president
Bill Clinton in 1996. However, the new policy does differ from the old in some ways.
The language in the old policy balanced the
maintenance of American leadership in space with the pursuit of international
partnership and cooperation in space activities. For example, the first
paragraph of the old policy stated: "We will maintain this leadership role
by supporting a strong, stable and balanced national space program.. The United
States will pursue greater levels of partnership and cooperation in national
and international space activities and work with other nations to ensure the
continued exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.”
By contrast, the language in the new policy
emphasizes the maintenance of U.S. supremacy in space and downplays
international cooperation. The introductory section of the new policy states:
"In this new century, those who effectively utilize space will enjoy added
prosperity and security and will hold a substantial advantage over those who do
not. Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air
power and sea power. In order to increase knowledge, discovery, economic
prosperity, and to enhance the national security, the United States must have
robust, effective, and efficient space capabilities."
The language in the old policy balanced the
maintenance of American rights in space with the rights of other nations. For
example, the old policy stated: "The United States rejects any claims to
sovereignty by any nation over outer space or celestial bodies, or any portion
thereof, and rejects any limitations on the fundamental right of sovereign
nations to acquire data from space." The new policy emphasizes the rights
of the U.S. over other nations. For
example, it has revised the phrase
"fundamental rights of sovereign nations" to "fundamental right
of the United States".
This shift is also reflected in the
presentation of the fundamental goals of U.S. space policy. The old policy had
as the first goal of American space policy to "Enhance knowledge of the earth,
the solar system and the universe through human and robotic
exploration." This goal has been
relegated to third place and revised to eliminate the pursuit of knowledge. It
now reads: "Implement and sustain an innovative human and robotic exploration
program with the objective of extending human presence across the solar
system."
The new policy also adds two new goals which
it puts as the first and second goals of U.S. space policy: The first is to "Strengthen the nation's
space leadership and ensure that space capabilities are available in time to
further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy
objectives." The second is to "Enable unhindered U.S. operations in
and through space to defend our interests there."
The old and new policy both have separate
sections devoted to "civil space guidelines", "national security
space guidelines", and "commercial space guidelines". This is
the order in which these sections appear in the old policy. The first sentence
of the old policy on national security space guidelines stated: "The
United States will conduct those space activities necessary for national
security." The new policy puts the national security guidelines ahead of
the other two sections. Instead of
"necessary" under the old policy, space activities are now
"critical" under the new policy. The first sentence of this section
now says: "United States national security is critically dependent upon
space capabilities, and this dependence will grow."
The language of the old national security
space guidelines emphasized the "right of self-defense",
"defending against enemy attack", "assuring that hostile forces
cannot prevent our use of space" and "countering, if necessary, space
systems and services used for hostile purposes." The language in the new
national security space guidelines is more belligerent and aggressive. It does
not talk about “self-defense” but declares that the United States will
"preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space",
"dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing
capabilities intended to do so", "deny, if necessary, adversaries the
use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."
The new policy also adds a principle that does not exist in the old
policy. It states: "The United States will oppose the development of new
legal regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit U.S. access
to or use of space. Proposed arms control agreements or restrictions must not
impair the rights of the United States to conduct research, development,
testing and operations or other activities in space for U.S. national interests."
Essentially, this new policy declares that the
United States will use outer space in any way that enhances its "national
security" and "national interests", that it will oppose any
other country using outer space in a way that threatens U.S. interests and
global supremacy, and that it will not agree to any international law that
would seek to restrict American activities in space in any way whatsoever. It again illustrates that the United States is
determined to dominate the entire world including outer space, that it is
prepared to attack any country that threatens its supremacy, and that it will
use outer space to deliver biological, chemical and nuclear weapons if it
chooses. In other words, it is yet another illustration that the U.S. remains the
main danger for the unleashing of another world war.