Guns in the Sky

To boldly go where no...er, weapon?!...has gone before...

According to a recent article in a government business news daily (GovExec.com, 25 Oct 2004), "A veteran space program observer who recently represented the Bush campaign in a policy debate said the president is considering whether to continue U.S. participation in an international treaty banning nuclear weapons in space."

The article quotes Frank Sietzen, co-author of New Moon Rising (Apogee Books, July 2004), at an Oct 14 gathering in Washington, as saying that "the administration is reviewing whether or not we want to be signatory" to the 1967 United Nations Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

The 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, involves two key provisions:

1. First, it contains an undertaking not to place in orbit around the Earth, install on the moon or any other celestial body, or otherwise station in outer space, nuclear or any other weapons of mass destruction.
   
2. Second, it limits the use of the moon and other celestial bodies exclusively to peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for establishing military bases, installation, or fortifications; testing weapons of any kind; or conducting military maneuvers. (State Dept)

Spurgeon Keeny, president of the Arms Control Association and an official of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the Carter administration, said in a 2001 article (LA Times, 9 May 2001), "U.S. policy has been to recognize the importance of maintaining space as a sanctuary, providing free and unimpeded access for all countries. The best way to protect satellites is by not establishing military programs. . . . One doesn't want to casually inject systems that suggest that we would try to deny other people's access to space."

Yet, the militarization of space has been a key component of the Rumsfeldian vision for the world. The neo-conservative think tank, Project for a New American Century (PNAC), plainly stated this objective in their 2000 document, "Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century." The objective is to "control the new international commons of space...and pave the way for the creation of a new military service -- U.S. Space Forces -- with the mission of space control."

The neo-conservative/Rumsfeldian strategy is founded on a vision of "space as a key theater of war," a clear move away from the intent and objectives of the 1967 treaty which advocates for space as a global commons free from military forces and weapons of mass destruction.

"This [treaty] is another one of these areas that is going to be seriously reviewed by both the Commerce Department and the State Department in due time," Sietzen said in his Oct 14 comments in Washington.

The US already withdrew from the 1972 Treaty on the Limitations of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems in 2002 to pursue its missile defense program. Now it appears that the 1967 Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will be next. If the Bush administration gains another term in office, the neo-con dream team will be in position to abrogate yet another international agreement designed to protect the common good in favor of a blatant move to increase American hegemony at the expense of a safer world.

More reading:

• U.S. Takes First Step To Weaponize Space (UPI, 30 Mar 2004)
  As one senior government official and defense expert, who requested anonymity, said, "We're crossing the Rubicon into space weaponization."
• Dark Matter (Moscow Times, 9 April 2004)
  As the presidential campaign reaches critical mass, the United States will break a long-held taboo and launch the first weapon into the global commons of outer space.
• Bush's Space Odyssey (Michelle Ciarrocca of the World Policy Institute, 20 Jan 2004)
• Rumsfeld Nomination Should Spark Space Weapons Debate (Ira Chernus, 7 Dec 2002)
• Militarization of Space (Nuclear Policy Research Institute)
• World Policy Institute (New School University)