" ... DeSutter pointed out that the US used to believe, as a matter of doctrine, that no nation would ever sign an arms control agreement with the intention of violating it. We now know better. As long as US military power depends on a massive, complex, and expensive set of defenseless space assets, the incentive for any potential foe to develop ways of attacking them is too great to be over come by any international agreement. If, however, the US can be constrained from developing and deploying effective countermeasures thanks to such an agreement, they have every reason to pressure Washington limiting its own actions.
Being a diplomat DeSutter, of course, had to speak diplomatically. She said that “there is no—I repeat, no—on-going arms race in space.” This is like watching the horses warm up for the Kentucky Derby and then saying “there is no on-going horse race here”: true enough, but hardly relevant. There was no space race before the USSR launched Sputnik in October 1957, but there were lots of ongoing space programs.
Part of the problem is due to the lack of transparency and good faith that surrounds this issue. When the US complains about others who seem to be hiding their space weapons efforts from international scrutiny a lot of people, some of them Americans, question whether the “black budget” is hiding US space weapons projects. This objection should be dismissed out of hand, since the secret budget has to be approved by bipartisan congressional committees and a politically controversial program such as that would never be allowed to get through the process. In any case, leaks are a way of life in Washington and there have been no reliable leaks about this in Aviation Week or elsewhere. ... "
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