[Mike] Moore later responded to an oft-made rhetorical claim that virtually anything could be a “space weapon,” including the Russian Progress spacecraft or a Chinese taikonaut equipped with a hammer or a can of spray paint. Moore said that the laws of physics are rather challenging, and in order to use a space vehicle as a weapon, you really have to design it as a weapon, giving it the unique capabilities required to attack other satellites. (A corollary to this is that you also have to test it as a weapon in order to have any confidence in its abilities.) Moore also discounted the notion of a “space Pearl Harbor” first proposed back in 2000 by a special committee headed by Donald Rumsfeld. A large-scale effective surprise attack on American satellites is impossible, because in order to have any confidence in your ability to carry out such an attack, you have to test, and testing will be detected.

Moore conceded that it would be difficult to achieve a treaty. But he rejected using the Cold War experience of failed treaty attempts as an excuse for not even trying. The United States and Soviet Union distrusted each other on everything, whereas “China and the United States are sleeping in the same bed.” They are not as adversarial as some people claim.

---

Day, Dwayne. "Will we Burn in Heaven like we do Down Here?." The Space Review. March 10, 2008.