Neither Star Wars nor Sanctuary: Constraining the Military Uses of Space FROM THE PUBLISHER
Space has been militarized for over four decades. Should it now be
weaponized? This incisive and insightful book argues that it should not.
Since the cold war, space has come to harbor many tools of the tactical
warfighter. Satellites have long been used to provide strategic communication,
early warning of missile launch, and arms control verification. The U.S. armed
forces increasingly use space assets to locate and strike targets on the
battlefield. To date, though, no country deploys destructive weapons in space,
for use against space or Earth targets, and no country possesses ground-based
weapons designedexplicitly to damage objects in space. The line between
nonweaponization and weaponization is blurry, to be sure�but it has not yet been
crossed.
In Neither Star Wars nor Sanctuary, Michael E. O'Hanlon makes a forceful case
for keeping it this way. The United States, with military space budgets of
around $20 billion a year, enjoys a remarkably favorable military advantage in
space. Pursuing a policy of space weaponization solely in order to maximize its
own military capabilities would needlessly jeopardize this situation by likely
hastening development of space weapons in numerous countries. It would also
reaffirm the prevalent international image of the United States as a global
cowboy of sorts, too quick to reach for the gun.
O'Hanlon therefore asserts that U.S. miltary space policy should focus on
delaying any movement toward weaponization, without foreclosing the option of
developing space weapons in the future, if necessary. Extreme positions that
would either hasten to weaponize space or permanentlyrule this out are not
consistent with technological realities and U.S security interests.
About the Author:Michael E. O�Hanlon is a senior fellow
in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and holder of the Sydney
Stein Jr. Chair. His recent books include Crisis on the Korean Peninsula: How to
Deal with a Nuclear North Korea (McGraw Hill, 2003; with Mike Mochizuki) and
Defending America: The Case for Limited Missile Defense (Brookings; with James
M. Lindsay).
SYNOPSIS
O'Hanlon (foreign policy studies, Brookings Institution) examines space and its potential as a platform for weaponry. Although several military powers routinely use spy satellites, O'Hanlon notes that no country currently has the capability of deploying weapons or striking objects in space. He gives recent trends in technology and threats that could encourage the US and others to take up space-related weaponry, describes how arms control can be applied to space, and gives ways the US can remain militarily dominant while also slowing the pace of development of space weapons. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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