U.S. PERSPECTIVES ON SPACE SECURITY

1
U.S. PERSPECTIVES ON SPACE SECURITY

• Joan Johnson-Freese
• Naval War College
• Newport, RI
• April 23, 2007

The views expressed in this article are the
authors alone and do not represent the official
position of the Department of the Navy, the
Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
2
Primary Considerations

• 2006 US National Space Policy
• 2007 Chinese ASAT Test

3
Shaping the U.S. Security Perspective

• Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat
  to the United States, also known as the Rumsfeld
  Commission, after its chair, Donald Rumsfeld.
  1998
• Commission on U.S. National Security and
  Military/Commercial Concerns with the Peoples
  Republic of China, also known as the Cox
  Commission after its Chair, then California
  Congressman (Republican) Christopher Cox. 1999
• Commission to Assess U.S. National Security Space
  Management and Organization, also known as the
  Rumsfeld Space Commission, again after its chair,
  Donald Rumsfeld. 2000

4
Threads of Policy from Commissions

• Missile Threat to the US (Missile Defense)
• China Threat (Relating to Space Technology)
• Inevitability that space will become a battle
  ground, therefore the U.S. would be remiss not to
  prepare for that.
  
• Because 95 of space technology is dual-use, and
  because restraint is not in the best interests of
  the U.S. arms control explicitly rejected and a
  focus on technology implicitly supported.

5
Military Doctrine

• Joint Doctrine for Space Operations, published by
  the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in August
  2002, states that, The United States must be
  able to protect its space assets and deny the use
  of space assets by its adversaries.
• The 2004 U.S. Air Force Counterspace Operations
  Doctrine document states that, US Air Force
  counterspace operations are the ways and means by
  which the Air Force achieves and maintains space
  superiority. Space superiority provides freedom
  to attack as well as freedom from attack.

6
2006 National Space Policy

• The United States is committed to the
  exploration and use of outer space by all nations
  for peaceful purposes, and for the benefit of all
  humanity. Consistent with this principle,
  peaceful purposes allow U.S. defense and
  intelligence-related activities in pursuit of
  national interests.

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2006 National Space Policy

• The United States considers space systems to
  have the rights of passage through and operations
  in space without interference. Consistent with
  this principle, the United States will view the
  purposeful interference with its space systems as
  an infringement on its rights.

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Issues

• Is the difference from past policies tone or
  content?
  
• Ambiguities
• Do rights stated to accrue to the U.S. also
  accrue to other sovereign nations?
  
• At least in the case of rights of passage
  yes to be guaranteed not by international law,
  but by force if necessary (capabilities)
  
• Reception outside the US

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Military Space Missions

• Space support (e.g. launch and satellite
  maintenance)
  
• Force enhancement (capabilities to increase the
  advantages of the warfighter, such as precision
  guided munitions and C4)
  
• Space control (the ability to use space when
  needed and deny to the adversary)
  
• Force application (space weapons).

10
China the US

• The view of the heavens from Beijing and the
  view of the heavens from Washington are very
  different. From Beijing, the view is largely
  obscured by U.S. assets, assets still rapidly
  expanding in number, type and potential
  lethality. From Washington, the space assets
  which facilitate a strong and dynamic U.S.
  economy and the most powerful military in the
  world were placed in jeopardy on January 11, 2007
  with the successful Chinese ASAT test.

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US Concerns About China Threat

• Cox Committee Report
• Shashoujian
• Taiwan
• ASAT Test January 2007

12
US Reaction to Chinese ASAT Test

• Tempered
• Admiral Fallon General Cartwright not
  surprising
  
• Delay in Statement from Beijing Complicated the
  Situation
  
• Space Arms Race?
• Calls for More Technology Development More
  Emphasis on Space as a Security issue (Senator
  Kyl)

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Senator Kyls Suggestions (not U.S. policy)

• Implement the 2001 Space Commission proposals
  management and organization
  
• Hold hearings to assure that the Chinese ASAT
  technology was not based on U.S. technology,
  shared or stolen
  
• Assure the military has access to operationally
  responsive space meaning, the ability to launch
  and quickly activate--militarily useful
  satellites
• Support the "Space-Based Test Bed," to include
  both kinetic and directed energy components to
  destroy missiles in their boost phase
  
• Increase the budget for space control
  programs
  
• Make space security a conservative priority
  again.
  

January 2007
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Options Beyond Technology

• Reconstitution
• Decrease vulnerability due to reliance on
  technology (learn/remember other ways to fight)
  
• Include arms control in policy options
• Encourage partnerships on peaceful uses of space

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Conclusions

• Space Security currently defined in primarily
  military terms
  
• Policy currently focuses on technology fixes to
  perceived space security issues
  
• Space debate is being encouraged by those who
  feel that space security, in the U.S. and
  elsewhere, would be better served by use of
  broader policy options.