BUSH WANTS TO TURN SPACE OVER TO THE MILITARY

THERESA HITCHENS AND HANINAH LEVINE, DEFENSE TECH - After four years and
some 35 drafts, the Bush White House has finally released its
long-awaited rewrite of the U.S. National Space Policy. . . When asked
about the document, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow replied:
"What, this old thing? Just something we inherited from our Uncle Bill."
. . . In a further indication that the administration intends to
downplay the significance of the document, insiders have been
characterizing the new NSP as "nothing new," just a variation on the
themes set by the Clinton administration in the last NSP. . .

Slap down the new NSP, signed by President Bush on Aug. 31, and the old
one, signed by President Clinton in 1996, side by side, and . . . it's
quickly apparent that we are dealing with two very different beasts. . .


While the Clinton version focuses on civil and commercial space, the
Bush NSP gives primacy to national security and military space. Example:
of Clinton's five goals for U.S. space programs, two mention national
security; of Bush's six goals, four are related to national security and
defense.

While the Clinton policy aimed to highlight international cooperation
and collective security in space, the Bush NSP takes a go–it-alone
stance, using strong language that asserts U.S. unilateral rights in
space while possibly also being intended to "negate" the rights of other
space-faring nations. In ominous tones, the document threatens in one
section to "dissuade or deter others from either impeding [U.S.] rights
or developing capabilities intended to do so" – raising the specter of
preemptive action against other nations' dual-use space technology.

Indeed, even as the Bush policy emphasizes the importance of space
security, it goes out of its way to make clear that this security may
not, under any circumstances, come from (shudder) international law:
"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 conduce research, development,
testing and operations or other activities in space for U.S. national
interests"

While the new NSP doesn't go as far as some space hawks wanted it to in
openly endorsing the strategy of fighting "in, from and through" space,
neither has it served to put a blanket – even a thin one – on those
ambitions. And in taking a decidedly "us against them" tone, it is
likely to further cement the view from abroad that the United States has
taken on the role of a "Lone Space Cowboy.".

http://www.defensetech.org/

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