Best Small Cos. The coordination plan, part of a major effort by President Bush to update security strategy and modernize the U.S. military, was a direct response to warnings issued this year by a government panel on space. That panel, previously headed by Rumsfeld, said the United States was vulnerable to a Pearl Harbor-type surprise attack on its space assets and that its satellite programs needed stronger management and better organization. Our daily lives are increasingly tied to space. We depend on satellite services to our homes, schools, business and hospitals.
Satellites are also our worldwide eyes and ears.
They collect information on capabilities and intentions of potential adversaries, monitor treaties and agreements and support military operations worldwide. Any step toward militarizing space would be bound to stir problems with China, Russia and others seeking to bar space-based lasers or other arms for any potential multilayered U.S. missile defense system. It only invites other countries to do the same thing. That panel was headed by Rumsfeld until Dec. 28, when he stepped down to prepare for his confirmation hearings after being nominated to be defense secretary. Copyright 2000, Reuters News Service.