U.S. war on terror reaches outer space

Official warns of danger to satellites

December 14, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The State Department's top arms-control official warned Wednesday of threats by terrorist groups and other nations against U.S. commercial and military satellites and reasserted U.S. policy that it has a right to use force.

"We reserve the right to defend ourselves against hostile attacks and interference with our space assets," Robert Joseph, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said in prepared remarks to the George C. Marshall Institute.

Joseph said "a number of countries" are acquiring capabilities to attack or counter U.S. space systems. He wouldn't name them, saying the information is classified, but Defense News reported in September that China has been conducting tests aimed at blinding U.S. satellites with lasers.

The United States is especially vulnerable to interference with its machines in space because it's so dependent on them, Joseph said. Power, water supply, gas and oil storage, government services and banking and finance rely on them.

Terrorists could jam signals from satellites or attack ground stations with rocket-propelled grenades, he said.

The military uses space assets for surveillance, ballistic missile tracking and secure voice communications with troops on the ground.

"No nation, no state-actor, should be under the illusion that the United States will tolerate a denial of our right to the use of space for peaceful purposes," Joseph said.

He also discounted the need for a treaty aimed at preventing an arms race in space, saying the 1967 Outer Space Treaty was effective. It bans the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space and says space should be used only for peaceful purposes.