U.S. policy on Militarisation of Space

This is a short excerpt from a much longer article at acronym. Critics of the U.S. shooting down of the spy satellite are concerned that the satellite and perhaps its shooting down are all part of the policy outlined below.

This latest version of Star Wars can be traced back to the unquenched aspirations of the earlier advocates, notably Donald Rumsfeld. Shortly after President Bush's speech inaugurating his vision of missile defence, Rumsfeld, Bush's Secretary of Defense, declared: "There is no question but that the use of land and sea and air and space are all things that need to be considered if one is looking at the best way to provide the kind of security from ballistic missiles that is desirable for the United States and for our friends and allies." For some in the US military, it is clear that the weaponisation of space is not only a possible basing mode for missile interceptors, but a primary future military objective. In 1996, the Commander-in-Chief of US Space Command (CINCSPACE) and of NORAD declared "We're going to fight a war in space. We're going to fight from space and we're going to fight into space..."
Space Weaponisation: Full Spectrum Dominance
"Space offers attractive options not only for missile defense but for a broad range of interrelated civil and military missions. It truly is the ultimate high ground. We are exploring concepts and technologies for space-based intercepts."
During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union placed intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and location/navigational assets in space to enhance their conventional forces. Although they pursued sophisticated research programmes, they decided against deploying space-based weapons or "orbital bombardment systems" capable of attacking terrestrial targets. Instead, they promoted the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and the 1972 ABM Treaty. Among other things, these treaties prohibited the stationing of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in space, along with the development, testing and deployment of space-based ABM systems and components.
In the mid-1980s, the US Congress opposed further development on anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) and pushed for outer space to be treated as a sanctuary, permitting commercial and military activities that stopped short of the deployment of weapons in and from space.
During the 1990s, US Space Command renewed its challenge to the Cold War consensus on not deploying weapons in space, declaring that "the medium of space is the fourth medium of warfare - along with land, sea and air." In January 2001, the Commission to Assess US National Security Space Management and Organisation, chaired by Donald Rumsfeld, published a report that powerfully evoked the image of a potential 'Space Pearl Harbour', and made the case that weapons in space would be needed to counter perceived US vulnerabilities. It argued in particular that the US government should pursue the relevant capabilities "to ensure that the President will have the option to deploy weapons in space to deter threats to and, if necessary, defend against attacks on US interests".
In October 2002, Rumsfeld's Deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, confirmed the Bush administration's ambition to see weapons in space become part of its multitiered concept of missile defence: "while we have demonstrated that hit-to-kill works, as we look ahead we need to think about areas that would provide higher leverage. Nowhere is that more true than in space. Space offers attractive options not only for missile defense but for a broad range of interrelated civil and military missions. It truly is the ultimate high ground. We are exploring concepts and technologies for space-based intercepts."
Responsible for around 64% of world expenditure on the commercial uses of space and 95% of military space assets, US proponents of space weaponisation rely on three assumptions: control - that controlling space offers unrivalled military and commercial advantage on Earth; vulnerability - that reliance on space assets presents particular vulnerabilities; and inevitability - that weapons in space follow from land, sea and air developments, and that it would be to the US' advantage to be first.