Space Alert! Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space SPRING/SUMMER 2020 [email protected] • www.space4peace.org Newsletter #39 A Space Force in Times of Economic & Health Crisis by Karl Grossman Amid the scourge of coronavirus sweeping the US, the rising death toll and huge shortages in medical equip- ment needed to treat victims of the epidemic and protect doctors, nurses and other health care workers, the Space Force has gotten its “first new offensive weapon” and the government is getting ready to pour billions into the newly established sixth branch of its armed forces. “Space Force Just Received Its First New Offensive Weapon,” was the headline of a March 13th article on “The War Zone” section of the website “The Drive.” The sub-head: “This is just one of two acknowledged US ‘counterspace’ capabilities, but there are more in the classified realm.” The article said the “new offensive weapon system [is] an upgraded version of a ground-based satellite jamming sys- tem. It quoted Lt. Colonel Steven Brogan, the Combat Systems branch leader within the Space Force’s Special Programs Direc- based systems,” said the article. “The Trump administration’s $740.5 along with US neighbor Canada—have torate as saying: “This upgrade puts the It also quoted Space Force Vice Com- billion budget request for [the military] for decades been seeking to expand the ‘force’ in Space Force and is critical for mander Lt. General David Thomas in 2021 includes $15.4 billion for the US Outer Space Treaty, to ban any weapons Space as a warfighting domain.” speaking about how “the new service Space Force, according to documents in space. The treaty provides that nations “Details on exactly how the CCS was working on new capabilities ‘to pro- released by the Pentagon on Feb. 10,” “undertake not to place in orbit around [Counter Communications System] tect and defend’ America’s space-based Space News reported. the Earth any objects carrying nuclear functions are limited, but it is under- assets.” He said “we did that extensively President Trump on December 20, 2019 weapons or any other kinds of weapons stood to be a jamming system that in the budget” for the 2020 US fiscal year, signed the National Defense Authoriza- of mass destruction, install such weap- disrupts transmissions from enemy and for the 2021 fiscal year “we are now tion Act providing for a US Space Force ons on celestial bodies, or station such communications satellites. This could taking steps to extend that across the and declared: “Space. Going to be a lot weapons in space in any other manner.” give US forces valuable advantages on fleet, as well as look at other capabilities of things happening in space. Because China, Russia and Canada have led the battlefield by disrupting the ability to be able to continue to defend those space is the world’s newest warfight- in advocating the Prevention of an of enemy units to rapidly communicate assets that we have and defend [against] ing domain….This is very big and im- Arms Race in Outer Space or PAROS and share information using satellite- adversary use of space.” portant moment.” The US military, he treaty, prohibiting all space weaponry. said, would “control the ultimate high But although the PAROS treaty has had Global Network NONPROFIT ORG ground.” overwhelming support at the United PO Box 652 US POSTAGE The formation of the Space Force has Nations, year after year the US [and Brunswick, ME 04011 PAID come despite the landmark Outer Space Israel] have voted against it, essentially PERMIT 56 Treaty which designates space as a global vetoing its passage. I’ve been at the UN AUBURN, ME commons to be used for peaceful pur- and seen this. poses. The treaty was put together by the Trump has further stressed that “it is US, the then Soviet Union and the United not enough to merely have an American Kingdom, enacted in 1967 and since presence in space, we must have Ameri- signed by virtually all nations on Earth. can dominance in space.” Trump and the US military claim a US Despite their pushing for years to ex- Space Force is needed because China pand the Outer Space Treaty and prohib- and Russia have been moving into space iting the deployment of any weapons in militarily. However, China and Russia— (See Space Force p. 7) 2 Space Alert! Spring/Summer 2020 Help us defeat arrogant US ‘control & domination’ of space plan by Bruce K. Gagnon This edition of Space Alert was So Russia and China slowly but due out just before the coronavirus steadily have moved forward since the pandemic struck. I delayed working early 1990s and have begun to close on it wondering how this worldwide the space gap—always continuing to shutdown would impact the military urge the creation of a space weapons industrial complex and their new pet ban treaty. But Washington still refuses project—Trump’s Space Force. Need- to even consider it. In fact, the US has less to say many things have stopped gone the other direction—pulling out of dead in their tracks but the US war the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), machine appears to be grinding along Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces with minimal delays. Treaty (INF), the Iran Nuclear Deal and Yes, there is the US navy aircraft car- today refuses to renew the Strategic rier USS Theodore Roosevelt presently Arms Reduction Talks (START) that runs grounded in Guam with almost 1,000 out in 2021. sailors testing positive for the virus It’s all really quite simple—the US does and their captain removed from duty not want to be bound by any treaties that for courageously advocating for the limit its goal for ‘control and domina- health and safety of his crew. tion.’ One could say the US has become The USS Kidd, a destroyer still at a ‘renegade’ or ‘pirate’ nation controlled sea, as I write has 47 sailors testing by the soulless corporate agenda which positive for the virus but the Navy has is all about power and greed. not brought them to shore. This all makes the job of the Global There was a semi-cancellation of Network terribly difficult. Since our the US-NATO Defender-Europe war allies ‘control and domination’ of Earth. Secondly, the founding in 1992 we’ve been working games aimed at Russia which was to involve tens Space Force will be given the task to create the technolo- hard to build an international constituency to keep of thousands of US and European troops. Massive gies to ‘control and dominate’ the pathway on and off space for peace. The corporate agenda is determined amounts of US hardware were shipped overseas to be our sacred Mother Earth. to block any progress toward that goal. left at a new US Army base in Poland that has been In 1989, the US Congress published an internal study I’ve always maintained that like everything else, the turned into a regional weapons hub near the Russian called ‘Military Space Forces: The Next 50 Years.’ In aerospace industry and their Star Wars project has an border. Some of the planned ground exercises were this study, the congressional staffer who wrote it talked ‘Achilles heel’. It’s money. The current global virus cancelled, and the US-NATO concentrated their waste- about the need to control the pathway between the pandemic is only bringing this reality to bear like ful militaristic energies on practicing a major nuclear Earth and the Moon. He suggested that armed space never before. air attack on Moscow. stations on either side of the Moon would allow the If we hope to beat this insane and provocative plan Space Force, as you will see in this newsletter, has Pentagon to seize the ‘Earth-Moon gravity well’. He then we must starve the beast. We can do that by fight- not been impacted by the pandemic. Trump was able wrote: “Armed forces might lie in wait at that location ing for social progress—programs like health care for to ‘stand up’ his new high-tech legacy branch of the to hijack rival shipments on return.” So this plan has all and funding to deal with our real problem today military as they say at the Pentagon. Congress was been in the works for many years—in fact since one of called climate crisis. overwhelmingly in favor—that means both parties the former Nazis first briefed Congress back in 1958. Please help us beat the expensive and dangerous supported it—the only thing the Democrats wanted Maj. Gen. Walter Dornberger was Hitler’s head man Space Force by fighting for programs that honor life on to change was the name to the ‘Space Corp’. in charge of his WW II era V-1 and V-2 rocket program. this lovely planet. Best wishes to all of you and keep I’ve noted that when the new leaders of the Space He was the staff link between scientist Wernher von your spirit strong. Force speak about it they keep using the word ‘lean’ to Braun and Hitler. Dornberger, like von Braun and describe the new service branch. They want to make it 1,600 other Germans, was smuggled into the US after —Bruce K. Gagnon is Coordinator of the Global Network sound like it won’t be a ‘fiscal burden’ to the nation, es- the war in the secret military program called Opera- and lives in Brunswick, Maine. He began working on peace pecially at a time when we have more unemployment tion Paperclip.