Required Reading: Center Issues Summary of Roundtable Discussion on the U.S. Requirement for Space Dominance
(Washington, D.C.): The Center for Security Policy today released a
Roundtable Discussion on “The Need for American Space
Dominance.” This day-long event,
which took place on 15 January 1998 at the ANA Hotel in Washington, DC, featured forceful
remarks by: two former Secretaries of Defense, Caspar Weinberger and
James Schlesinger;
five former four-star flag officers, General Edward “Shy” Meyer (USA, Ret.),
Admiral
Wesley McDonald (USN, Ret.), General John “Mike” Loh (USAF,
Ret.), Admiral Stanley
Arthur (USN, Ret.), and General Bernard Schriever (USAF, Ret.);
and more than 120 other
participants.
The Summary makes clear the grave concern felt by participants about the Clinton
Administration’s indifference to the U.S. requirement for space control. That concern was also in
evidence in an Open Letter to the President publically released for
the first time in the course of
the Roundtable. This letter, signed by 43 of the country’s most eminent military leaders —
including former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Commanders-in-Chief (CINCs) and many
other distinguished career officers — urged Mr. Clinton “to heed the recommendations of
the
National Defense Panel with respect to assuring an American capability to ‘deny our
enemies the use of space.’“(1)
Among the highlights of the Roundtable contained in the
Former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger: “We cannot take the
basic position that
there is something immoral about being in space for military purposes. And we cannot
put the
country at risk by deliberate attempts to block us from the use of space or to block any
attempts to develop systems that could be helpful to us in space.“
Former Secretary of Defense and Energy James Schlesinger: “We are
dependent on public
support to sustain an ambitious foreign policy. That public support is, in turn, dependent upon a
very low, if not zero, casualties, and a high degree, a very high degree, of
effectiveness of our
forces, an exemplary display of those conventional forces. And that, in turn, is dependent
on
space.”
Former Army Chief of Staff General Edward “Shy” Meyer: “Space is
going to impact on the
organizations of the future, and it is going to impact upon the research and development of the
future. We will [require] very different types of armed forces…or armies which are less capable,
in my judgment, in the long run, which are heavier [and] more difficult to project than if we have
access to space.”
Former Commander, U.S. Air Combat Command, General John “Mike”
Loh: “When I
look back and look at all of those forces and people that are required to conduct our combat
military missions, Air Force as well as Army, Navy, Marine Corps, how very dependent they have
become, just in the past few years, how very dependent they have all become on space
assets.
It is almost frightening when you then turn that around and look at how little we have
allowed for the protection and the space superiority of those assets.“
Former Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Stanley Arthur: “I was
fortunate enough to
participate in an Air Force war game here at Maxwell [Air Force Base] recently — Global
Engagement ’97 — played in 2012, where we were working a problem with a near-peer
who
had the ability to influence events in space. And utter chaos ensued.“
Former Chief Negotiator, Defense and Space Talks Ambassador Henry Cooper:
“We are
going to have to undo a lot of bad precedent in the arms control arena established over the past
40 years. …In terms of what to do, our best hope ultimately has to be the active measures that we
take to defend ourselves and extend and project power from space, as well as having
force-enhancing capability.”
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Fred Iklé: “Where
we are going [is]…an area
where we need…a dominant military space capability, and — while Congress has been, more or
less, supportive of all these programs — it hasn’t stepped in [to assure] the space capabilities that
connect, that inform, that advise, that give us targets, that design targeting and so on. That case
has to be made….To pretend to believe that pieces of signed paper in this area will help us, really
that is contrary to the lessons of history, which are unfolding in front of our own eyes.”
Former Commander, Air Force Systems Command, General Bernard
Schriever: “My gut
feeling is that the dimension of space in the 21st century is such that it will have a tremendous
deterrent capability if we have a dominant or space control capability, and we should somehow
develop that story. I think the American people might understand that.”
Former Acting Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, James
Hackett: “I
believe that a U.S. anti-satellite capability is absolutely essential to space control. I don’t see how
you can control space over a theater of operations or even over your own country without the
ability to intercept intruders into that space. …. Congress should assure that there are no arms
control constraints placed on the U.S. ability to control space.”
Thomas G. Moore, Deputy Director of Foreign Policy and Defense
Studies at the Heritage
Foundation: “Why is it that we remain undefended and potentially vulnerable to the most
threatening weapons that we face today, when we could have this tremendous advantage, this
uniquely advantageous position for missile defense if we were to do it in space?….[W]e are
dealing with not just an intellectual failure or a failure of policy. In fact, I would say in the
circumstance that we face today, declaratory policy is actually irrelevant…. This behavior, I
believe, is immoral.”(2)
The Bottom Line
The overwhelming sentiment of those participating in the Center’s High-Level Roundtable
Discussion on “The Need for American Space Dominance” was that that need was enormous
today — and certain to grow in the future. If this requirement is to be satisfied, however, Clinton
Administration policies and programmatic actions will have to be urgently redirected.
Accomplishing such a redirection should be among the first orders of business of the
next
session of the Congress. The Center hopes that the powerful personal testimonials from
many of
the Nation’s foremost military authorities(3) brought to light
in the course of this Roundtable
Discussion and discussed in the just-released Summary will help to catalyze and inform the
urgently needed congressional action.
A copy of the Summary can be obtained by contacting the
Center.
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1. See the Center’s Press Release entitled
43 of the Nation’s Most Eminent Military Leaders
Insist that the U.S. Must Be Able — and Allowed — to Dominate Outer Space (
January 1998).
2. In this connection, see the Center’s Decision
Brief entitled Words to Live By: Speaker
Gingrich Asks Clinton to Use Speech to the Nation to Begin Protecting it From Missile
Attack
(No. 98-D 15, 23 January 1998).
3. One participant with first-hand knowledge of the situation, former
Senator Malcolm Wallop
(R-WY) contended that in his many years on Capitol Hill he had never heard the “stark
reality”
communicated as powerfully as was done in the course of the Center Roundtable.
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