On the other hand, many presently robust industrial nations have space-launch facilities with a base of manufacturing and a technical personnel pool. Those nations are capable of placing dangerous payloads in space to menace United States space-traveling assets, but only a few might be expected to do so. Hard-to-detect techniques such as placing of space-mines, use of electromagnetic-pulse devices, killer-laser or particle-beam weapons and others, are among the weapons that such hostile industrial nations could bring to bear. Many nations can be brought to mind that harbor malice for the United States and this animosity could be expressed by disruptive actions against our space assets. Present and real in the news are those countries cottoning to known terrorists. Their future actions could do irreparable damage to U.S. space resources. Among surreptitious deeds, terrorists could disrupt radio-transmission of directive commands to space-borne assets---even though encrypted, critically alter positioning of satellites, counter with jamming the transmission and reception of space-earth communication and television relays, obstruct geo-stationary-orbit positioning and faculties, as well as other disastrous procedures. For the United States to counter these, as a minimum even today, radio traffic to and from space must feature agile-frequency modes or innovative encryption techniques.

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Earl, Richard Hansen. "Can the United States Afford to Surrender in the Next Conflict to Another Nation's Dominance in Space?." Air & Space Power Journal. Vol. 12 (Fall 1998): 108-110. [ 1 reference ]