PHILADELPHIA, July 19 (UPI) -- The strongest argument against putting American weapons in space is that it will weaken rather than enhance the national security of the United States. American weapons in space will incite other countries, such as China and Russia, to take countermeasures, including placing their own weapons in space. This will, of course, justify still further expensive deployments to "protect" U.S. assets from this "new threat." The ensuing arms race in outer space will obviously create still another area in which miscalculations, competition and aggressive deployment can lead to war. With thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert in the United States and Russia, a catastrophic nuclear war could easily ensue.
The weaponization of space could put the United States into direct diplomatic confrontation with the rest of the world. Recent unilateral military actions by the United States have already taken their toll.
Authoritative Pew polls show that the United States has slipped badly in its standing with the rest of the world. The United States is now considered by hundreds of millions of people to be the most dangerous country on the planet. This suspicion could descend to genuine hatred if the United States took the position of dominating outer space and leaving to itself the option of terrorizing the planet by orbiting bombardment satellites.
If the United States weaponizes space, it will pay other huge costs. The move to weaponize outer space will put at risk the entire range of U.S. military and commercial satellites, as well as those involved in scientific exploration.
American space expert James Oberg estimates that by 2010, the U.S. investment in space could reach $500 billion to $600 billion, equaling the value of all current U.S. investments in Europe. Not only would U.S. military satellites be targets, but so would U.S. communication, weather and observation satellites, particularly because most of these satellites have dual use and are also being used by the military.
The Bush administration has already awarded huge contracts to the major corporations in the field. The difficulties of analyzing the U.S. space budget -- because many items are classified, are included under other heads, or blacked out for security reasons, and component parts are separated -- create a budgetary nightmare for analysts. Suffice it to say that a figure of $22.5 billion is huge and threatening. But the space race itself, once started, could end up costing the United States hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars.
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(Next: The difficulties of calculating the U.S. military space budget)
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(Helen Caldicott is president of the Washington-based Nuclear Policy Research Institute. She was a founder of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the organization that won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
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(Craig Eisendrath is the chair of the Project for Nuclear Awareness and co-founder of the National Constitution Center. This piece originally appears in Helen Caldicott and Craig Eisendrath's book, "War in Heaven: The Arms Race in Outer Space," and is published with the permission of The New Press.)
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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
