Threats to Space Assets and Implications for Homeland Security

We have heard extensively from Department of Defense and intelligence community officials regarding the potential foreign threats to our space systems. The threats are real, and only getting worse. Talking about a conflict extending to space isn't science fiction anymore and the impact of that threat extends beyond the military. It extends to our way of life here in the United States. There likely isn't a person that hasn't utilized the services provided by satellites at some point. The Global Positioning System, or GPS, is probably the most widely known space asset. While many recognize that GPS powers their navigation in their cars and cellphones, they may not know or may not recognize the support it provides to financial transactions, farming, shipping, public safety, environmental monitoring, and a host of other areas. Satellite-provided services have become analogous to electricity, a utility we really take for granted. Most of us don't need to, nor want to, know where or how our power is produced, but we expect our local power company to continuously provide the power we need to heat and cool our houses and run our myriad electrical devices. Space services are now a utility as well. Potential adversaries of the United States are well aware of the dependence on satellites. Not surprisingly, nations are now actively testing methods to deny the use of space services during conflict. They have developed a full quiver of these methods, ranging from satellite signal jamming to outright destruction of satellites via a kill vehicle, such as successfully tested by China in 2007. The pace of these counterspace efforts appears to be accelerating and the impact of the use of counterspace likely would be felt by all sectors of the space community.