We must develop a security system to ensure continued operation of these critical global utilities. Doctors depend on communications satellites to tell them if a patient is sick or if a donor organ is ready. Meteorologists rely on weather images from space. Banking and investing organizations count on real-time quotes and instantaneous transactions provided by satellites. War fighters, airline pilots, and others depend on GPS to tell them where they are and what time it is.
Missiles rely on targeting information provided by satellites.
These end users could find themselves without service due to an attack, and a lack of such service could result in casualties, political instability, or a risk to security. Many, if not most, current global utilities, such as GPS and the Internet, with its global communications links, arose from DOD and US Air Force developments. It seems self-evident that these utilities should receive protection. They also believe that owner-based protection would remove the need for a military presence in space and, in turn, would preclude the militarization of space. The redundancy, costs, and efficiency of this framework make it the worst possible scenario.