The History of the America’s Space Program By Matthew Behrens, the co-founder on the premise that the U.S. currently “The Soviet Union cannot attack the of Homes not Bombs and Toronto Ac- faces no major military competitor, the continental U.S. within the near fu- tion for Social Change is an organizer rapid U.S. build-up of nuclear arms fol- ture. It has no navy of importance of the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials lowing WWII was based on a similar and with a second-rate merchant ma- in Canada. understanding: the master of the globe rine, Soviet overseas operations gen- wanted to remain so forever. erally would be out of the question.” he proposal for National Mis- In a secret plan drafted two At the same time, the U.S. was sile Defence (and the various months after the atomic bombing of contemplating an all-out attack on the Tspace warfare programs into Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the U.S. ad- Soviets, who had lost more than 10% which it is designed to evolve), has a ministration of Harry Truman explored of their population during the war, it long, murky history that involves eve- the idea of launching 20 or 30 nuclear was also recruiting thousands of former ryone from Nazi war criminals and weapons against the USSR, even Nazi war criminals to work on its mili- power-crazed U.S. generals (who in- though: tary and space warfare programs. spired the film Dr. Strangelove) to weak-kneed U.S. Recruitment liberals who gave in to fears of Nazi Scientists and myths rather than op- As Christopher Simpson points pose the frightening plans of out, when the U.S. occupied the literally mad scientists Germany, they recruited more running the show. than 1,000 of Hitler’s prized It is a history of ex- rocket experts: periments which have “The U.S. began to integrate threatened the magnetic scores of top German scientists belts surrounding the earth, into American military re- upper atmospheric nuclear search projects only weeks af- weapons explosions, and ter Hitler’s final collapse. Be- new and ever more inven- fore two years were out, hun- tive forms of propaganda dreds of German scientists, in- trying to convince us that cluding some suspected of things like the Space Shut- crimes against humanity, were tle and Canada’s on the American payroll.” RADARSAT are the inno- Walter Dornberger and Wernher Von (Blowback, America’s recruit- cent creations of a scientific Braun oversaw the Nazi’s V-2 rocket pro- ment of Nazis, and its disas- community whose interest trous effect on our domestic in space is as benign as a gram during WWII. The photo above and foreign policy, 1988.) child with a home-made tel- shows them at a Perhaps the most noto- escope. 1944 Christmas ban- rious of these was Wernher von quet, gleefully read- Braun, who oversaw develop- Acceptable Losses ing a telegram con- ment of V-2 buzz bombs – Hit- in Nuclear War ler’s vengeance weapons, pre- gratulating them for cursors to the cruise missile, But the roots of Star Wars being awarded the which late in the war were used reveal much of post WWII to murder thousands of civilians foreign policy which, to be Knight’s Cross of the in London. [Editor’s note: The blunt, is rooted in the geno- War Merit Cross V-2s killed 2,770 Britons and cidal idea that nuclear wars with Swords. wounded 21,000.] Von Braun can and should be fought, later helped develop U.S. with “acceptable losses” at V-2 rocket attacks killed about 2,800 atomic weapons and led 20-30 million people in the Britons. However, some 20,000 slave NASA’s Apollo program to the U.S. Throughout the Cold labourers died in concentration camps moon. War, the U.S. policy of first where the V-2 rockets were produced. Also infamous was Nazi strike nuclear warfare was Immediately after the war, Von Braun and Major General Walter based on the idea that pre- Dornberger, who became a sen- venting the USSR from be- Dornberger – along with hundreds of Ger- ior Vice President in Bell coming a military peer was man scientists – were reunited in the U.S. Aerosystems of Bell Aircraft, of paramount concern. But where they continued their work on the and a recipient of the American just as Vision 2020 is based V-2 and other weapons. Rocket Society’s Astronautics 4 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 55) December 2004 Award in 1959. He was one of the first Marshall Spaceflight Centre; following the war, it is certainly in keep- to explore the idea that rockets could Erich Neubert, production man- ing with the vision of American war be used to propel explosives. Writes ager for V-2 guidance and telem- planners who, essentially, shared many Simpson in Blowback: etry labs, who later worked on the Nazi goals (such as global domination), “He labored hard from 1932 on to U.S. Army missile program; but may have differed over the delicate make missiles an integral part of the Adolph Thiel, V-2 engineer, later issues of tactics and tact. arsenal of the Third Reich.” Vice President at TRW, which is Indeed, a refugee from Nazi-oc- Dornberger convinced Hitler to open a now a leading contractor for so- cupied Europe, Edward Teller, became massive underground slave-labour fac- called “Missile Defense”; one the most influential scientists in tory at Nordhausen to produce V-2 Hubertus Strughold, America’s America. Father of the hydrogen bomb, missiles. At least 20,000 were killed so-called “Father of Space Medi- he is also widely credited with promot- there through a combination of the star- cine,” directed diabolic medical re- ing the idea of winnable nuclear wars vation diet, executions and disease. search experiments for the Nazi’s. with “minimal” losses in the tens of mil- During the war, Dornberger was pro- He used prisoners in concentration lions, and of putting the star wars idea moted to the highest rank, a commis- camps as guinea pigs, and then be- into the head of Ronald Reagan. sioner of the Third Reich, and spent came the chief scientist at U.S. time detained as a war criminal after Aerospace Medical Division at NASA: Civilian Cover 1945. One of Dornberger’s employees Brooks Air Force Base, in Texas. for Space Warfare at Nordhausen, Arthur Rudolph, went While it is disturbing to think The development of space warfare on to become a major player in the de- that members of the Nazi apparatus be- dovetailed with a convenient cover: the velopment of America’s Saturn V rock- came integrated into the U.S. military peaceful exploration of space, a mirage ets that were used in the moon launches. According to Jack Manno’s his- “Space for peace- tory of space warfare, Arming the ful purposes – Heavens, Dornberger even what a bunch of “approached Hitler with the idea of god-damned an aerospace glide bomber [capable of] a quick surprise attack against bullshit that was!” U.S. General New York.” Bernard Schriever, Among other famous Nazis who “Father” of the U.S. went on to glory in the U.S.: Air Force’s space and Kurt Debus, head of Nazi V-2 Schriever missile program. launch operations who later became NASA’s Chief of Operations at “The highest priority should go to Cape Canaveral; space research with a military Krafft Ehricke, a German atomic bomb consultant, who became an application, but because national executive at the U.S. weapons firm morale, and to some extent national General Dynamics and lecturer at prestige, could be affected by the the Air University Command and results of peaceful space research, Staff School; this should likewise be pushed.” Walter Scweidetsky, head of V-2 Pres. General Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) guidance group, who later worked Eisenhower on guidance systems for intercon- tinental ballistic missiles at General 1946: Project RAND Report Dynamics; The U.S. Army Air Forces (soon to RAND Corporation. It originally Hans Maus, engineer for the V-2, become the Air Force) commissioned functioning under the auspices of later became chief of executive staff a Project RAND study into the feasi- Douglas Aircraft. It was acquired by at NASA’s Marshall Space-flight bility of launching space vehicles. J.S.McDonnell to become McDon- Centre; The report, “Preliminary Design of an nell Douglas, which was bought by Martin Schilling, chief of the test- Experimental World-Circling Space- Boeing, now a top recipient of “Mis- ing lab for the V-2 propulsion divi- ship” (May 2, 1946) said the U.S. sile Defense” handouts and the Pen- sion, became Vice President of re- military could “design and construct tagon’s No. 2 contractor. The RAND search at Raytheon, which is now craft which can penetrate the atmos- Corp., a right-wing “think tank” has one of the top contractors for so- phere and achieve sufficient velocity been promoting U.S. military and cor- called “Missile Defense”; to become satellites of the earth” and porate interests for almost 60 years. Hans Hosenthein, designer, V-2 “such a vehicle will undoubtedly For more information, see: launch and guidance antennae, later prove to be of great military value.”
As part of America’s top secret “Operation Paperclip,” Wernher Von Braun and 120 other leading Nazi rocket scientists were brought to Fort Bliss, Texas, where they continued their work on the V-2 missile. By Karl Grossman, investigative jour- as possible: “It was like a professional In 1949, with the beginning of nalist for 30 years, author of The Wrong sports draft,” Manno writes. And cor- the Korean War, the Army ordered Stuff: The Space Program’s Nuclear porate America was deeply involved. Von Braun and his rocket team to the Threat to Our Planet (1997) and jour- Scientists from the Nazi Penenemuende Redstone Army Arsenal at Hunts- nalism professor, State University of Rocket Center: ville, Alabama. They were given the New York. “were turned over for interrogation task of producing an intermediate- to Richard Porter, who was in Ger- range ballistic missile to carry bat- n his 1984 book, Arming the Heav- many representing the General Elec- tlefield atomic weapons up to two ens: The Hidden Military Agenda tric Corporation, which held the hundred miles. The Germans pro- Ifor Space, 1945-1995, Jack Manno, Army contract for the first long- duced a modified V-2 [for the U.S. a professor at the State University of range ballistic missile under devel- Army] renamed the Redstone.” New York, said: opment in the U.S.….[The U.S.] Huntsville began to become a “The space program of today has its “adopted nearly one thousand Ger- major center of U.S. space military ac- roots deep in the strategy of world many military scientists, many of tivities – which it continues to be – and domination through global terror whom later rose to positions of soon “Von Braun began to emerge as pursued by the Nazis in WWII... power in the U.S. military, NASA the most dynamic spokesman for Many of the early space-war and the aerospace industry.” America’s budding space program.” schemes were dreamt up by scien- Manno goes on to relate that: The U.S. military, on its tists working for the German mili- “Wernher Von Braun and his V-2 Redstone Arsenal website, provides tary, scientists who brought their colleagues...began working on rock- this narrative on Von Braun: rockets and their ideas to America ets for the U.S. Army. They soon “He became technical director of the after the war.” launched in New Mexico the world’s Peenemuende Rocket Center in During WWII, Nazi Germany first two-stage rocket, using a sal- 1937, where the V-2 rocket was de- developed the V-1 and V-2 rockets. At vaged V-2 as the first stage and a veloped. Near the end of World War war’s end, the U.S. sought to grab as smaller booster rocket that fired II, he led more than 100 of his rocket many of the German rocket scientists when the first rocket burned out…. team members to surrender to the 6 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 55) December 2004 weapons systems, military opera- In 1965, he wrote that: Democrats and Republicans tried to out tions, or the defence of the U.S. shall “nonmilitary research in outer space red-bait one another in the race to show be the responsibility of and...directed could best be conducted by a new who was most patriotic, various state- by the Department of Defence.” civilian agency. But military research ments came out of both parties with As Jack Manno points out: would naturally demand secrecy. respect to space. Senator Lyndon “As long as the military could pro- The highest priority should go to Johnson, also a future president, re- vide the guiding hand to make cer- space research with a military appli- marked in the late 1950s: tain that NASA didn’t stray too far cation, but because national morale, “Control of space means control of off into militarily useless areas, the and to some extent national prestige, the world, far more certainly, far military would support the agency.” could be affected by the results of more totally than any control that has President Eisenhower, a former peaceful space research, this should been achieved by weapons or by U.S. general, knew that the militariz- likewise be pushed, but through a troops of occupation. Space is the ation of space had to be done delicately, separate agency.” ultimate position, the position of to- under the guise of a civilian program. Throughout the 1950s, as the tal control over Earth.”
a planning paper century the chance will have been for his new employ- lost to move toward a secure and July 24, 1950: ees…. He projected peaceful world. Thanks to Von Braun’s team, a system of hun- Even if militarists succeed in the “Bumper” V-2 was the first dreds of nuclear- arming the heavens and gaining su- missile launched at NASA’s armed satellites all periority over potential enemies, by Cape Canaveral, Florida. orbiting at different the 21st century the technology of altitudes and an- terrorism – chemical, bacteriologi- gles, each capable cal, genetic, and psychological of reentering the at- weapons and portable nuclear bombs mosphere on com- – will prolong the anxiety of constant mand from Earth to insecurity. Only by eliminating the proceed to its tar- sources of international tension get. The Air Force through cooperation and common began early work development can any kind of na- on Dornberger’s tional security be achieved in the idea under the acro- next century. Space, an intrinsically Allied Powers. Von Braun came to nym NABS [Nuclear Armed Bom- international environment, could the U.S. in September 1945 under bardment Satellites]. As a variation provide the opportunity for the be- contract with the U.S. Army Ord- on NABS, Dornberger also pro- ginnings of such development.” nance Corps as part of Operation Pa- posed an antiballistic-missile system It is now the 21st century and perclip. He worked on high-altitude in space in the form of hundreds of Manno was saying from his home in firings of captured V-2 rockets at satellites, each armed with many Syracuse that in the past as today “con- White Sands Proving Ground.” small missiles. The missiles would trol over the earth” is what those who Von Braun and his “group” were then be equipped with infrared want to weaponize space sent to the Redstone Arsenal in 1949 homing devices and chiefly want. where he became director of develop- could be launched auto- The Nazi scientists are ment operations. After the creation of matically from orbit. an important “historical NASA, “Von Braun and his team were This concept was also and technical link, and transferred” to it “and became the nu- taken under study by also an ideological link,” cleus of the George C. Marshall Space the Air Force in the he said. As for the claims Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal.” For 1950s. Labeled BAMBI that space warfare is de- ten years Von Braun was Marshall’s (Ballistic Missile Boost fensive – from how Reagan director, leaving in 1970 to go “to Intercept), it was an idea that characterized his Star Wars NASA Headquarters to serve as Deputy would reappear in the space-war plan as a “shield” to the appellation Associate Administrator. “ dreams of the Reagan administration “missile defense” today, Manno says: Former German Maj. Gen. in 1983.” “it’s all a smokescreen. The aim is Walter Dornberger – who was in charge Manno continues: to put all the pieces together and of the entire Nazi rocket program – also “The real tragedy of an arms race in have the capacity to carry out global becoming a powerful figure in the U.S. space will not be so much the weap- warfare including weapons systems space program. Manno relates that: ons that evolve – they can hardly be that reside in space.” “In 1947, as a consultant to the U.S. worse than what we already have – Source: Excerpts from Weapons in Air Force and adviser to the Depart- but that by extending and accelerat- Space, Seven Stories Press, 2001. ment of Defense, Dornberger wrote ing the arms race into the twenty-first December 2004 (Issue # 55) Press for Conversion! 7 Cape Canaveral, Nov. 16, 1963. Numerous “liberal” Democrats of the period, including Hubert NASA Deputy Administrator Humphrey and Adlai Stevenson, also Robert Seamans, Wernher von signed a public statement that declared: Braun and President John Kennedy “Let us not fail to understand that control of outer space would be a with model of the Saturn IV rocket. military fact of the highest impor- tance.” Indeed, Jack Manno points out that the development of rockets for in- tercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) was a major purpose of early space activity. An article in Missiles and Rockets magazine by General Hollings- worth Gregory noted that the “Air Force, when the ICBMs be- come operational, will want to train their launching crews and test their vehicles under realistic conditions; on Mars (a fanciful cover for develop- Secretary Robert McNamara’s proposal and a good way to do it might well ing the tools of space warfare), John F. to blast “hostile” satellites with hydro- be to send modified versions of these Kennedy began the 1960s with his own gen bombs. vehicles into orbit around the moon.” fanciful vision of putting a man on the McNamara developed an anti- The early interest in space flight was moon (again, an amazing vision to satellite (ASAT) program designed to often spurred by a desire to maintain a cover the real purpose for investing in detonate a one megaton warhead within testing regimen for ICBM rockets. all this space technology). the kill radius of a Soviet satellite. This The late 1950s and early 1960s General Homer Boushey of the plan gave rise to another ASAT, were a time of great anxiety, again Air Force Office of Advanced Technol- Squanto Terror, which would involve fuelled by politicians intent on riding ogy saw the moon as an ideal missile the launch of a Mark 49 hydrogen bomb unrealistic fears of Russian world domi- base, with the dark side perfect for 600 miles into space. nation to public office. Hence, a whole space weaponry tests. It could also In total secrecy, following three history of “bomber gaps” and “missile serve as a great weapons launch site, successful tests, the U.S. Air Force gaps” was developed to try and con- as it is easier to hit earth from the moon launched the world’s first operational vince people that the U.S., far ahead in than vice versa. He, and people like ASAT system in 1964. President all aspects of the global arms race, had Teller, pushed for a mili- Lyndon Johnson de- to constantly build newer and more tary base on the moon. In clared: frightening weapons systems to main- 1959, General Dwight “we have...developed tain par with the Soviets. Black, Director of Guided systems to intercept and Like their descendants in Vision Missiles and Special destroy... satellites cir- 2020, generals in the early 1960s saw Weapons for the Air cling the earth in space. space as a military zone. Strategic Air Force, told Congress: I can tell you today that Command General Curtis Lemay said “I would hate to think these systems are in we “will need...forces that can control that the Russians got to place. They are opera- each stratum of space.” In 1962, Gen- the moon first. The first tionally ready and they eral Thomas Powers stated “absolute nation that does will are on alert.” superiority in space is essential.” probably have a tre- Boushey There were two nuclear- The language used back then is mendous military ad- armed missiles placed on still used to justify space warfare. Al- vantage over any po- 24 hour alert. The pro- though the U.S. has no global peer, it tential enemy.” gram fell into disrepair nonetheless feels “vulnerable” to those Under President because of technical who would possibly, maybe, somehow, Kennedy, a number of glitches and fears that an challenge this superiority, and as such, programs were developed explosion of a nuclear the U.S. is almost at a disadvantage to militarily control the weapon in space would despite its total control of space. heavens. Among them disrupt military commu- were the SAINT (Satellite nications on earth (and Racing to the Moon... Interceptor) an orbiting not because such an in- or Armageddon kill vehicle to first analyze sane idea would spread Just as George W. Bush began the first and then blow up the So- radiation everywhere!) decade of the 21st century with a vi- viet Sputnik. SAINT was Nonetheless, both sides sion for putting a manned space probe scrapped in favour of War McNamara in the arms race contin- 8 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 55) December 2004 magnetic pulse), scientists discovered trip to the moon as a “stunt” and urged: that such a disturbance would interrupt “next time we must create an envi- the ability to continue waging nuclear ronment in space that will be used war on the planet. by men, not only for research but for Concern over this potential dis- military purposes. For this we re- advantage prompted the U.S. Air Force quire a logistics system, a recover- to launch, in the early 1960s, billions able, reusable space transporter to of tiny cooper cables to see if this belt carry people and supplies back and could provide a communications sys- forth to space.” tem in the event that normal military And so, work began on the systems were interrupted in the course space shuttle, which from the very be- of a nuclear war. ginning was slated to host a good per- With each new civilian discov- centage of military experiments. ery in space came concerns that the phe- By the late 1960s, satellites nomena of nature would interfere with were being used to direct the bombing war plans here on earth. One of the most of Vietnam, and remote sensing devices Johnson significant of those discoveries was the and experiments with computerized Van Allen Belts, a magnetic shield command and electronic battlefields 1957: “If, out in space, there whose namesake figured out that these were also being tested in that tiny coun- is the ultimate position – from were radiation belts of atomic particles try which General Maxwell Taylor de- which total control of the trapped by the earth’s magnetic field. scribed as a laboratory for warfare. U.S. earth may be exercised – then They worked as a shield to General Westmoreland at our national goal... must be to prevent cosmic radiation the time envisioned from hitting the earth. “battlefields on which we win and hold that position.” Despite knowing can destroy anything we President Lyndon B. Johnson these belts existed, the locate through instant military proceeded with communications and al- ued to push the boundaries, exploring, upper atmospheric nuclear most instantaneous appli- for example, the idea of orbiting kill testing, more concerned cation of highly lethal vehicles which are again in vogue with with establishing total con- firepower.” the Bush administration. While the So- trol of the heavens than The U.S. meanwhile de- viets had a FOBS (Fractional Orbiting with the health effects of veloped a limited antibal- Bombardment Satellites) which would such testing. listic missile defence sys- use hydrogen bombs 1,000 times more But concerns about tem (Safeguard) which powerful than the bomb at Hiroshima, the natural balance of life was deployed around nu- the U.S. envisioned similar programs on earth were superceded clear missile silos in North under the more reassuring name of by concerns for military Dakota, but the program NABS (Nuclear Armed Bombardment hardware. When a Mark was cancelled weeks after Satellites) and BAMBI (Ballistic Mis- 49 hydrogen bomb was Westmoreland going into operation. sile Booster Interceptors), both of detonated 248 miles above the earth, it which have been revived by current damaged satellites tens of thousands of Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars space warfare plans. miles away. This caused concerned Interest in space warfare continued, in Throughout the history of the military planners, but also gave them somewhat muted form, until 1983, space age, military planners have fret- new ideas, turning the EMP from some- when Ronald Reagan stunned the world ted that the physical forces of nature as thing to fear into a potential weapon. with his infamous Star Wars speech. In they occur in the upper atmosphere – Indeed, exploding a bomb 250 miles an effort to snuff out the power of the things like gravity, magnetic pull, ra- above the USSR would create an EMP anti-war movement, which had raised diation – would greatly interfere with to scramble all Soviet communications demonstrations in the millions to op- their desire to explode weapons. systems. The U.S. has moved in that pose a new generation of nuclear weap- For example, the utility of blow- direction ever since, and, as Rosalie ons in Europe, Reagan envisioned a ing up nuclear weapons in space was Bertell points out, is hoping to wage space shield which he said would reconsidered following a series of up- war by harnessing the forces of nature render nuclear stockpiles “impotent and per atmosphere, nuclear explosions in that are used to protect life on earth. obsolete.” His vision also included the late-1950s. One nuclear weapon Throughout the 1960s, the ever- things like “Brilliant Pebbles,” tiny that was detonated almost 50 miles energetic General Schriever called for computerized bomblets with a killer above the South Pacific in 1958 trig- a manned orbiting laboratory to be used instinct that would zoom about the gered a huge magnetic storm that shut as a military command station as well heavens, zapping any enemy objects down radio transmissions across the as a reusable re-entry shuttle. Former that needed to be disposed of. The pro- Pacific. Identified as an EMP (electro- Nazi Walter Dornberger dismissed a gram was officially launched in 1985 December 2004 (Issue # 55) Press for Conversion! 9 as the Strategic Defence surface or above the sur- weapon to propel the beam to earth. Initiative (SDI). face of the earth. And if Among his plans was the idea of a pop- As Frances Fitz- we had a number of com- up mini-nuke which could be launched gerald points out in Way panion systems, a high- when needed, as opposed to being sta- Out There in the Blue, on energy laser, or particle tioned in space awaiting battle. Reagan and Star Wars: beam weapon, or some- Teller told Reagan in 1981 that: “From the beginning it had thing else along with the “by converting hydrogen bombs into been clear to many experts pointing and tracking ability to hitherto unprecedented forms and that Star Wars technologies were knock down airplanes and missiles, then directing these in highly effec- much better suited to the offense than then you wouldn’t even need to tive fashions against enemy targets to the defense, and among SDI en- knock out cities; you could knock out would end the MAD [Mutually As- thusiasts there were a number who forces. You could pin your enemy sured Destruction] era and com- had always thought that the goal of down on earth. What would they do? mence a period of assured survival the program should be to establish If I control the high ground and you on terms favorable to the Western U.S. control over space.” can’t move, what are you going to alliance.” Indeed, Brilliant Pebbles could be do? You’re going to negotiate a sur- An X-ray laser, as envisioned by Teller, reconfigured to hit earth as well as render. That’s what it’s all about.” was most effective when shooting space targets. Another close Reagan adviser straight down from orbit. One of Reagan’s advisers was was Edward Teller, who pushed the idea A 1996 U.S. Air Force report, the omnipresent Schriever, who mused: of an X-ray laser to produce a beam a New World Vistas: Air and Space “What I want is a radar surveillance million times brighter than a hydrogen Power for the 21st Century, called for system which allows you to spot eve- bomb. To produce this effect in space, nuclear power to be used for propul- rything that’s moving, either on the one could simply blow up a nuclear sion of space vehicles. From Reagan to Global Imperialism By Fred H. Knelman, Ph.D., author of America, God and the Bomb: The Legacy of Ronald Reagan (Vancouver: New Star Books) 1987.
ith a cabinet of ultra-con- servatives and some key Wneoconservative advisers, President Ronald Reagan abandoned the policy of Mutual Assured Deter- rence in favour of planning to fight and win a nuclear war. Reagan’s advisors on this policy understood that the dy- namics of winning a major nuclear war involved both sword and shield. Not only would the U.S. have to have a more powerful nuclear sword than the Soviets, it would also have to build a powerful shield against a counter-at- tack. Englehart To justify the former, Reagan’s Peace Through Strength (CPTS) and under Reagan. Colonel Charles advisers created “the world according the American Security Council Heimach, a key member of DARPA, to Gap.” The Soviets were alleged to emerged. Among their key members wrote Space Survivability: A Philoso- have superiority in offensive nuclear were many current neocon advisers to phy/Policy Argument. It became the bi- weaponry. This allowed the U.S. into a George W. Bush. Army Lieutenant- ble for “high ground” advocates. More major build-up far exceeding Soviet General Daniel Graham, a member of sophisticated space war advocates used power. Meanwhile, the U.S. occupied CPD and the CPTS, formed a company the term Strategic Defense Initiative. the high ground by developing space called High Frontiers. He became a By using the word “defense,” they tried weapons, both defensive and offensive. close adviser to Reagan and promoted to hide their policy of fighting and win- This was Reagan’s dream of Star Wars. the Star Wars program. ning nuclear wars, including their plans Several right-wing organiza- The Defense Advanced Re- to put weapons in space. By this time, tions, such as the Committee on the search Projects Agency (DARPA) had Soviet President Gorbachev was mak- Present Danger (CPD), the Coalition of been created in 1958 and reemerged ing all the concessions but the U.S. was 10 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 55) December 2004 Dr. Rosalie Bertell docu- concerns about the military use of ments in her book Planet Earth: SPSP but was told “as long as it The Newest Weapon of War, that was called solar energy, it could the origins of the Strategic not be considered a weapons Defense Initiative became the in- project.” spiration for Reagan’s Star Wars The fall of the Soviet Union was vision. The purpose of the Solar a temporary setback for Star Wars Power Satellite Project (SPSP) and the weapons industry. Iraq’s was to collect solar energy in invasion of Kuwait (encouraged space and transmit it to earth. President Jimmy Carter approved the “So- by the U.S.) was a godsend for the (Who could argue with a benign lar Power Satellite Project” which critics, military industry, and while sounding project like that?) In- like Dr. Rosalie Bertell, exposed as a po- George Bush Senior envisioned vestigators like Bertell wondered tential space-based beam weapon for use the need for a “limited” star wars why it wouldn’t make more sense against ballistic missiles and earth targets. system to deal with “rogues (and cost a lot less money) just states” and “narco-gangsters,” it to collect solar energy on earth. logical weapon. Functioning like a su- was really President Bill Clinton who This was another “civilian” plan per microwave oven, it could be used picked up where Reagan left off. In to militarize space. Bertell points out to kill people while leaving buildings 1996, Clinton approved a six-year Na- one potential military use of the SPSP untouched, like the much-touted neu- tional Missile Defense (NMD) pro- was the development of a beam weapon tron bomb of the Carter years. (Carter gram: three years for re- which could be based in orbiting satel- did approve SPSP, but it was vetoed due search and three years lites. SPSP could be used as both an to its high costs.) Bertell approached to build the system. anti-personnel weapon and as a psycho- the UN disarmament committee with From Clinton not taking “yes” for an answer. Rumsfeld’s appointment as Sec- Meanwhile, High Frontiers Inc. retary of Defense was part of a deliber- to Bush realized that “Star Wars” was the most ate plan to pursue space domination. and Beyond lucrative new opportunity for war in- The Air Force Space Command then On July 22, 1999, dustries. Space was annexed as the new- issued a progress report, Strategic Mas- Clinton signed the est and deadliest battlefield in history. ter Plan FY04 and Beyond. In its in- NMD Act, which com- On November 1, 1989, the UN troduction, General Lance Lord says: mitted the U.S. to deploying NMD “as General Assembly voted to urge the 66- “As guardian of the High Frontier, soon as technologically possible.” Like nation Geneva Conference on Disarma- Air Force Space Command has the Bush after him, Clinton made pro- ment to create a committee on the Pre- vision and people to ensure the U.S. nouncements about nonexistent threats vention of an Arms Race in Space. The achieves space superiority today and from rogue states and terrorists. vote was 138 to 0, with two abstentions in the future. A new space corps will Ultimately, U.S. military plan- – the U.S. and Israel, a consistent vot- fight from and in space.” ners wish to harness outer space to ing pair. (Canada voted in favour. It was Lord goes on to say: maintain their policy of pre-emptive a rare case of Canada voting against “Our vision calls for prompt global- first strike. As U.S. physicist Michio the U.S. on arms control resolutions!) strike systems with the capability to Kaku points out: A key figure promoting space directly apply force through space “the control of outer space would imperialism, from the Reagan era to the against terrestrial targets. Space su- serve no purpose if mutual deter- present, is Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. periority is essential to our vision of rence was the Pentagon’s nuclear Defense Secretary. Under President controlling and fully exploiting strategy. For deterrence, all one Bush Sr., Rumsfeld chaired The Com- space to provide our military with needs is to have an invulnerable mission to Assess U.S. National Secu- an asymmetric advantage over our force of relatively inaccurate subma- rity Space Management Organization. adversaries.” rine-launched missiles. However, the Its final report (January 11, 2001), rec- The goal is nothing less than the control of space becomes pivotal if ommended creating a U.S. Space Corps complete domination of the planet. one’s aim is nuclear war-fighting: to to defend America’s space-based “mili- There is only one country that stands fight, survive and win a nuclear war. tary capability.” It was more subdued in the way – Russia. The U.S. has set Escalation Dominance requires that than the earlier Vision for 2020, which out to match its perfect sword with a one be able to dominate every rung called for “dominating the space dimen- perfect shield, but now that sword will of the escalation ladder, including sion of military operations to protect have a space component. The ultimate space war. The war-fighters realized U.S. interests and investments,” and goal is to prevent any obstacle to that anyone controlling the ‘high “deploying space weaponry [so] the America’s global policy of domination. ground’ of outer space could, at the United States would have the ability to This means preempting any country that very least, blind the enemy’s early control space and from this higher could challenge its global dominion. warning system, a practical require- ground dominate the Earth below.” ment for a first strike.” December 2004 (Issue # 55) Press for Conversion! 11