Containment key to space domination- solves space conflict
Zhao Weibin Researcher, PLA Academy of Military Science, 4/08/16, “U.S. Space deterrence strategy’s likely target is china”, http://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/forthcoming-u-s-space-deterrence-strategy/
Following the White House submission of a cyber-deterrence strategy to Congress in December 2015, the Center for a New American Security released a report titled From Sanctuary to Battlefield: A Framework for a U.S. Defense and Deterrence Strategy for Space (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”) in January 2016. As pointed out bythe Report, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 mandated that the U.S. government should develop an integrated policy to deter adversaries in space, hence it can be expected that a U.S. space deterrence strategy is forthcoming, completing American system of strategic deterrence. From the Report as well as other documents and researches, we can get a glimpse of the target, ways and means, and supportive measures of the forthcoming U.S. space deterrence strategy. First, the target of U.S. space deterrence seems to be China. During the Cold War, the purpose of U.S. space deterrence was to deter an adversary from launching a nuclear or conventional war by use of outer space dominance. Now the purpose is to deter potential adversaries from attacking American space assets. There are many indications that the main target will be China. As early as 2001, the first Schriever space-war exercise regarded China as the confronting “red side”. The National Security Space Strategy (2011) criticized China’s anti-satellite test (ASAT) for increasing congestion in space. In China Dream, Space Dream: China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States, a report prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in March 2015, the authors concluded that “China’s improving space capabilities had negative-sum consequences for U.S. military security and require the United States to prepare to confront an adversary possessing space and counterspace technologies.” (p.107) The Report mentioned China 20 times, implicating it as a major threat to U.S. space architecture. Second, the ways and means of the forthcoming U.S. space deterrence might include enhanced defense, preemptive strike, improved resiliency, less reliance on space assets and increasing political costs, as summarized in the Report. Although the Report emphasizes that these methods are facing many challenges, such as being difficult to develop and high in costs with unsatisfactory deterrence effects, they remain indispensable ways of “deterrence by denial”.They are intended to decrease the benefits of disrupting U.S. space capabilities, thus reducing an adversary’s motivation. Scattering in the Report, there are also ways of “deterrence by cost imposition”, such as threatening to escalate the space war if any adversary dares to start it, and threatening to make responses outside of space. They are intended to punish the perpetrator and let him pay the price. Third, for the future U.S. space deterrence strategy to work, supportive measures might include formulating some rules of combat, enhancing space situational awareness, and gaining international support. The Report proposes five rules of war in space: (i) Being the first to carry war into space is escalatory and irresponsible; (ii) Kinetic attacks that cause lasting damage to humanity’s ability to exploit space abilities are prohibited; (iii) Attacks on or interruptions of strategic space assets would be construed as highly escalatory, and should be presumptively disfavored; (iv) Satellites and space assets not directly and substantially involved in a conflict are not legitimate targets for attack; (v) Attacks in space justify responses outside of space. As we see it, the first rule involves “no first shot”. As space-faring states are relying more and more on outer space, this rule will be a double-edged sword, constraining all sides. The second rule involves “the legitimacy of kinetic attacks”, which might be welcomed by the U.S. government, particularly by the U.S. military, since the latter has developed a lot of non-kinetic counter-space technologies. The third rule involves “setting a red line” between strategic and less-important space assets. It has been very controversial, since drawing a red line will encourage an adversary to attack those below the threshold, without escalating the space war. The fourth rule involves the “dual-use problem”, because it is hard to distinguish between a civilian satellite and a military one. Therefore, it is hard to implement the rule. The fifth rule involves “cross-domain deterrence”, which has been adopted by the newly released cyber deterrence strategy. Given the significance of outer space to U.S. national security and economic prosperity, the U.S. government might as well accept the whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach. Space situational awareness (SSA) has been elevated to be the top priority of U.S. military space missions, as listed in the Joint Publication 3-14 Space Operations (May 2013). The United States now has different layers of SSA capabilities, from the land-based Space Fence,to low-earth-orbit Space-Based Surveillance System (SBSS) and Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS), to low and high Space-Based Infra-Red Systems (SBIRSs), and to Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP). Enhanced SSA will be a powerful deterrent to malicious space activities. The Obama administration has attached great importance to space cooperation, as stressed in recent official documents on space security, like the National Space Policy of the United States of America (June 2010), National Security Space Strategy (January 2011), and Department of Defense Directive No. 3100.10 Space Policy (October 2012). International space cooperation can not only make good use of such scarce space resources as electromagnetic spectra, but also increase the risks and costs of space attacks by a third party, thus effectively supporting space deterrence. China has always been strongly against the militarization and weaponization of outer space, and put forward, together with Russia, the Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects (PPWT). With a U.S. space deterrence strategy around the corner, space arms control will be harder and diplomatic competition will be fiercer. For China, the best way ahead is to proactively participate in the formulation of an international code of behavior for the interests of all space-faring countries and for the peaceful and sustainable development of outer space.
America first
America must lead in space now – another power superseding us in space would be catastrophic- Primacy in space key
Colucci in 2012 (Lamont, chair of politics and government at Ripon College, a former Fulbright scholar to the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna; “America Must Retake Lead in Space Exploration;” US News, World Report, Insights, perspectives, and commentary on foreign affairs; December 11, 2012; http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2012/12/11/america-must-retake-lead-in-space-exploration)
Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the American people. Its permanent mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no American has gone before. The above homage to the opening lines of the real Star Trek, the one where an American from Iowa was the captain, may seem odd at a time when the majority of the country is concerned about gas prices and mortgages, and those that are paying attention to events outside their hometown are focused on Afghanistan and the Iranian nuclear program. However, it is precisely at this time that a call for American primacy in space must be made. The president should make both an ideological and practical case for the space program. On the ideological side he needs to hearken back to President Kennedy demanding that America and Americans must lead this human endeavor, that the banner of freedom and democracy must be at the forefront, and that it is not only our challenge, but our duty and responsibility. If not us, who? If not now, when? On the practical side he needs to make the national security and economic case in stark and clear terms. The cost of both, for another power to supersede us, would be catastrophic at every level. The space program, and manned space exploration in specific, are the keys to America's future, not only as a global superpower, but as the leading economy. The two cannot be separated, and neither of them will have a future without America leading the way, now, not in some murky future. It is precisely because of the economic downturn, the threats posed by other great powers and rogue states, that this is the time for such a clarion call. This time needs to be capitalized on, to advance the real need for a renewed American commitment to space. The country that makes this commitment will be the country with a secure future.