Issue 5: Space and Counterspace

Every year the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) presents a threat assessment to the Senate Armed Services Committee. This report was published February 26, 2015, using information current as of February 13, 2015. The DNI report listed space and counterspace among key and ongoing threats to the United States. The following is an excerpt from that report.

Modern living is intimately connected to the use of electronics…. Without power, life in the United States would come to a halt…. EMP weapons have the ability to cripple a nation’s power systems. In fact, a specific type of EMP called the high-altitude EMP, or HEMP, has the capability to neutralize power across the continental United States.

[T]he US should anticipate and prepare for cases in which its space dominance may be challenged. Some commentators claim the US has already lost its foothold, which should only hasten the process…. If China catches up or overtakes the US in space-based technology, the US will no longer be in a position of power.

The feasibility of large scale weapons programs in space is becoming more and more imminent. Although quietly disguised behind satellite improvements and testing, much more ambitious weaponry could be in the works…. Regardless of whether this technology is ever seen in action, the very idea is already beginning to take effect.

Frontiers always begin as lawless places. The major frontier of modern times, space, is no exception. The entrance of the private space industry and the continual push by countries such as China toward kinetic anti-satellite weapons are only part of the growing problem…. Despite an increase in public attention on the ground level foreign policy, space is a region the international community has yet to fully comprehend.