Seizing the high ground is a military doctrinal precept as old as warfare itself. As technology opens the new high ground of space and offers the means to exploit it, sound doctrinal development would be grossly remiss to overlook it. Simply put, the coupling of advanced technologies with well-intended and effective military doctrine development will inevitably lead to the acquisition of space weapons. In addition to the power of top-down policy leadership, forces outside the control of high-level policy makers will also drive the acquisition of space weapons. In some circumstances, the institutions involved in the planning processes -- including scientific laboratories, administrative divisions and military consumers -- apply significant pressure outside their formal areas of expertise or responsibility. In explaining one motivation for countries to acquire nuclear weapons, Scott Sagan explains: 'bureaucratic actors are not passive recipients of top-down political decisions; instead, they create the conditions that favor weapons acquisition'. Today we find ourselves in a situation with an absence of clear top-down policy guidance on space weapons, and in such a case, military doctrine can build an inertia of its own, and impact -- or even become -- the default policy.

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Deblois, Bruce M. "The Advent of Space Weapons." Astropolitics. Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 2003). [ 15 quotes ]