|
"Space Weapons Could Emerge from Pentagon Budget "
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Pentagon's Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget request funds nearly a billion dollars in programs that could provide dual-use space weapons capabilities according to a new joint-analysis by the World Security Institute’s Center for Defense Information (CDI) and the Henry L. Stimson Center.
In the absence of a clear national strategy and policy on new military missions in outer space, the administration of George W. Bush is funding these programs that will create “facts in orbit.” These facts – the development and testing of space weapon technologies and the deployment of dual-use systems without any codes of conduct or rules of the road for their operation – will drive U.S. policy toward space weapons without a debate in either Congress or the public.
According to CDI Director Theresa Hitchens, one of the report's authors, “Congress must become more aware of these efforts, hidden in plain sight within the Pentagon’s Byzantine budget request, and ensure that such programs do not go forward until a proper, in-depth and intergovernmental policy-making process, including congressional and public input, is concluded.”
Hitchens, Victoria Samson, CDI research analyst, and Michael Katz-Hyman, research assistant at the Henry L. Stimson Center, have combed through the Air Force and Missile Defense Agency's budget requests and highlighted programs which merit further examination. Of most concern are the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Space Test Bed and Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE), the Air Force’s Experimental Satellite Series (XSS) and Autonomous Nanosatellite Guardian for Evaluating Local Space (ANGELS), and a new MDA Micro Satellite program. The complete analysis is attached and available at www.cdi.org/pdfs/FY07SpaceWeapons.pdf or at www.stimson.org/space/pdf/FY07SpaceWeapons.pdf.
The World Security Institute (WSI) is a non-profit organization committed to independent research and journalism on global affairs. The Center for Defense Information (CDI) is part of the World Security Institute, whose divisions include the CDI, International Media, Azimuth Media and International Programs with offices in Brussels and Moscow, and projects in Beijing. CDI seeks to contribute alternative views on security to promote wide-ranging discourse and debate. CDI educates the public and informs policy-makers about issues of security policy, strategy, operations, weapon systems and defense budgeting, and pursues creative solutions to the problems of today and tomorrow. Please visit us on the web at: www.worldsecurityinstitute.org, or www.cdi.org.
Since its inception in 1989, the Henry L. Stimson Center, a nonprofit institution, has worked to combine rigorous research and analysis with a commitment to fostering dialogue on improved, pragmatic, nonpartisan policies. With nearly 40 senior scholars, research and administrative staff, the Center researches a variety of projects that focus on reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction, building regional security, and strengthening institutions for international peace and security. More information on the Stimson Center can be found at www.stimson.org.
Additional Contacts:
Theresa Hitchens: thitchens@cdi.org, 202.797.5269
Victoria Samson: vsamson@cdi.org, 210.455.7838
Michael Katz-Hyman: mkatzhyman@stimson.org, 202.478.3413
|
