There's just not enough space 4 everyone

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxx>]

[Washington Post]
U.S. Satellites Vulnerable To Attacks, Officer Warns
Thursday, June 21, 2001; Page A02


A senior military officer warned yesterday that U.S. military and
commercial satellites are vulnerable to attack and said the United
States must begin creating a system to defend them.

Unless more focus is put on "protecting and advancing our interests in
space," the United States runs "the very real risk of a 'space Pearl
Harbor' or another Sputnik that catches us off guard and unprepared,"
Lt. Gen. Edward G. Anderson III, deputy commander of the U.S. Space
Command, told the House Armed Services Committee.

"We must prepare now to ensure our continued access to space [and]
deny space to others, if necessary," he said.

As a step toward enhancing the country's space defense capabilities,
Anderson said the Pentagon recently set up two Air Force squadrons "to
replicate the known capabilities of potential adversaries . . . [and]
explore future space control technologies."

Anderson sought congressional support for research on a space-based
laser that could be used in missile defense and other missions such as
air defense, global surveillance, space control and target detection.

-- Walter Pincus