It isn't the "openly hostile" countries that would worry me, it would be the ones who, on the surface, pretend to be friendly while plotting your demise behind your back. And yes, I wouldn't put nothing past the Chinese government at this stage of the game. Think about it, the quickest way to bring down a super power would be to first throw them into chaos by manipulating the markets, and then while their attention is turned to the ensuing civil disturbance, knock out a few key satellites with lasers, to disable their means to communicate and navigate. I believe it was reported years back, that a couple of our satellites may have been targeted by a laser source. I know our high flying surveillance aircraft have been targeted with some pilots becoming blinded by a source. So who knows what exists, and by whom. With a growing capability of more and more nations to put things into orbit, and given the real potential for some scum bag group to purchase the services of a not so friendly country, we shouldn't be dragging our feet developing and deploying something that can at least defend itself or us. Quoting Scott Catron <zaui@yahoo.com>:
I found this part interesting:
"John Mohanco, deputy director of the office of multilateral, nuclear and security affairs, said the United States faced a threat of attacks from the earth or from other countries' spacecraft. He did not name any potential attackers."
'Faced a threat'? That sounds like we think there's a potential for problems now.
Anyway, I wonder who the 'potential attackers' are? I don't recall any space-capable countries that are openly hostile to us. Are we worried about the Russians? Chinese? Can terrorists get their hands on space-capable weapons?
--- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060613/ts_nm/arms_space_usa_dc
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