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The United States Should Weaponize Outer Space

U.S. national security is dependent on uninterrupted access to its space assets. As more and more nations develop the capability to access outer space, the U.S. needs to ensure that it is capable of not only protecting its space assets but also denying space access to hostile nations. U.S. security would benefit from the ability to project power from and through outer space and U.S. dominance of space would be stabilizing during crises.


U.S. Space Assets are Threatened
The spread of advanced space technologies (ex. solid-fuel ICBMs and space tracking) puts U.S. space assets at risk. Several countries have already tested anti-satellite weapons or interfered witht U.S. dominance of outer space.

Space Weaponization is Inevitable
The weaponization of space is inevitable for economic, military, strategic, historical reasons.and terrorist threat perceptions.

U.S. Space Assets Vital
The U.S. economy and military depend on the security of existing space assets.

Foreign Space Assets Threaten U.S.
U.S. security is threatened by foreign imaging, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellites.

U.S. Weaponization of Space would be Advantageous
The U.S. would gain economically, strategically, and militarily from deploying space weapons.

Space Arms Control is not Worth Pursuing
International attempts to ban space weapons are doomed to fail because of problems with verifying agreements, defining the technology, or even defining what a space weapon is.

U.S. Weaponization of Space would not be Disadvantageous
Historical experience shows that the deployment of new weapon systems is never as destabilizing or threatening as arms control advocates claim.

The United States Should not Weaponize Outer Space

The risks of weaponizing space for United States national security far outweigh any gains. There are no credible spacepower threats to U.S. space hegemony in the near-term and any deployment or testing of space weapons would risk many of the advantages the U.S. currently enjoys.


Threat Against U.S. Space Assets is Insignificant
There is no credible threat to U.S. space assets from either rogue state adversaries or terrorist groups.

Space Weaponization is not Inevitable
There is no reason to believe that the weaponization of space is inevitable.

U.S. Space Assets are not Vital
Space is not a critical center of gravity because many of the functions currently performed by existing space assets could be performed by ground-based or near-space technologies.

Foreign Space Assets do not Threaten U.S.
There is no significant or credible threat from foreign space assets to U.S. security.

U.S. Weaponization of Space would be Disadvantageous
If the U.S. weaponizes outer space, it will damage its economy, its security, and its standing in the international community.

Should Pursue Space Arms Control
The international spacefaring community would benefit from a new agreement to regulate the development and deployment of space weapons.

U.S. Weaponization of Space would not be Advantageous
The weaponization of space would not realize all of the advantages that proponents claim.