[Infowarrior] - US insists on right to develop arms for outer space

[Richard Forno]

US insists on right to develop arms for outer space
Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:57 AM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-
13T115717Z_01_L13495545_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARMS-SPACE-USA.xml&archived=False

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday reasserted its right to
develop weapons for use in outer space to protect its military and
commercial satellites and ruled out any global negotiations on a new treaty
to limit them.

In a speech to the Conference on Disarmament, a senior State Department arms
control official insisted that such weapons systems would be purely
defensive.

Washington sees no need for negotiations to prevent an arms race in space as
a 40-year-old international treaty banning weapons of mass destruction in
space remains adequate, he said.

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.

"As long as the potential for such attacks remains, our government will
continue to consider the possible role that space-related weapons may play
in protecting our assets," he told the United Nations-backed forum.

"For our part, the United States does not have any weapons in space, nor do
we have plans to build such weapons," he said.

The White House is due to announce a new space policy this month, the first
overhaul in a decade. Some U.S. experts have said it will underscore the
Pentagon's determination to protect its existing space assets and maintain
dominance of outer space.

The United States and Britain are under pressure to agree to global
negotiations on space at the 65-member Geneva forum, where they remain
virtually alone in opposing them.

Washington argues a treaty banning production of nuclear bomb-making fissile
material should be the forum's next goal.

Last week, China and Russia warned that space-based weapons would pose a
threat as great as weapons of mass destruction and pointed to gaps in
existing international law. The two powers also back fissile talks under a
wider agenda including space.

LION'S SHARE

The United States -- which has the "lion's share of assets in outer space"
-- remains committed to the peaceful use of space by all nations, according
to Mohanco.

"There is no -- repeat, no -- problem in outer space for arms control to
solve," he said, citing "unprecedented international cooperation" in civil
and commercial space activities, including among former Cold War foes.

A 1967 U.N. treaty bans weapons of mass destruction from space, but some
experts believe the United States would not shy away from withdrawing from
the pact.

In 2002, it pulled out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty to
begin deploying a missile defense shield.

Mohanco vowed all U.S. activities in the exploration and use of outer space
would comply with international law.

But a new pact to ban anti-satellite weapons or other space-related weapon
systems would be impossible, given the problems of defining what it covered,
because any space object had an inherent "dual-use potential", meaning it
could be used for civilian or military purposes, he said.