ABSTRACT
Explicitly invoking a “space Pearl Harbor” as a potential disaster the United States must strive to avoid, the 2001 Report of the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization urged action on “five matters of key importance” (Commission 2001: 9). First among those recommendations is the “demand that U.S. national security space interests be recognized as a top national security priority.” In making this call, the Commission was speaking in terms increasingly familiar to the national security community, including Congress. Indeed, the mandate of the Commission established in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 [Public Law 106-65, Section 1622] was similarly framed:
The commission shall, concerning changes to be implemented over the near-term, medium term and long-term that would strengthen United States national security, assess the following: (1) The manner in which military space assets may be exploited to provide support for United States military operations.
