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August 17, 2006

Star Wars: A New Saga

Red Planet follow up

 

 

It's certainly getting more press, as this blog pointed out two weeks ago, that China (and others) are looking or will be looking to space as the new strategic domain of military conquest and strategic advantage against the United States and her allies. Specifically, China and others intend to maintain various types of vehicles that can be launched into space to target US communications and other important satellites (along with other possible targets) affecting the security of the US and her interests.

 

Yesterday Reuters quoted Gen. Kevin Chilton, who heads the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado as having stated quite bluntly: "If it's a space launch, we can't afford to relax."

 

General Chilton was speaking during an annual conference on the matter of missile defense.

 

General Chilton went on to say,

 

 

Foes would be foolish not to be thinking of how to deny the United States the advantages of space, on which it relies heavily for military and commercial purposes, said Chilton, who took over the space command a month and a half ago.

 

"And in the future, I'm convinced they'll strike at these capabilities, if nothing else to attempt to level the playing field," he said.

 

[…]Chilton said his goal was to learn all this in the object's first orbit of the Earth so the United States could take unspecified actions "before an adversary can cripple us."

 

 

As I mentioned on August 02,

 

 

[…]China and allies North Korea and Iran have made no secret of their desire to target US satellites as a preemptive move in any serious conflict with the US. Tactics mentioned include using killer satellites and detonating a nuclear-tipped missile in lower orbit, using the EMP (electromagnetic pulse) to fry the circuitry of satellites – especially those most of which are not hardened.

 

Certainly, an attack on communications and infrastructure is a key aspect in the book on cutting the war with your enemy short; we know that and certainly they know that.

 

Another aspect of the use of space is perhaps that of keeping nuclear warheads on satellites which can be launched and detonated high above the target – even an entire continent – creating an EMP that would completely kill most if not all non-hardened technology civilian and military that was invented since the end of the 19th century.

 

The fact that China wishes to militarize space is no surprise; nor is it that anyone else sees it, be they Russia, Iran, China’s “Mini-Me” North Korea, other bad guys or any of the good guys.

 

The question now is whether we can protect the technology that protects our technology. Seeing is one thing, but preventing is entirely another. While it is important that we both more closely monitor launches by potentially hostile powers and harden our assets in space, we also need to harden the walls that prevent access by foreign agents interested in stealing information that could render those defenses (be they technological or relating to our tactics) moot.

 

It is no doubt no secret that anything of intelligence value to our adversaries will be targeted by agents physically attempting to gain access (in the spirit of Aldrich Ames, Vilyam “Willie” Genrikhovich Fisher, et al) and by those exploiting technological (specifically IT) security vulnerabilities – something the NSA noted in the Reuters article – is still an ongoing aggressive and at times effective threat.

 

We also must become prepared to deal with any attempt at setting off an EMP from low orbit whether its primary target be our space assets or, perhaps more ominously, something back on earth.

 

 

Posted by Martin at August 17, 2006 08:25 PM

Comments

How many more threats need we concern ourselves with ?..great read Martin!

Posted by: Angel at August 18, 2006 04:47 PM