This afternoon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is announcing plans for a major boost in the importance of space for U.S. military strategy. The following analysts are available for interviews:

KARL GROSSMAN
Author of the forthcoming Weapons in Space, Grossman is professor of journalism at the State University of New York. He has just completed production of the documentary “Star Wars Returns.” He said this afternoon: “Today’s announcement is a major step by the U.S. government in turning the heavens into a war zone. As the Rumsfeld ‘space commission’ report recently said: ‘In the coming period, the U.S. will conduct operations to, from, in and through space in support of its national interests both on earth and in space.’ Now the Bush administration is moving ahead to implement that scheme — which will cause an arms race and ultimately war in space. A key element in the documents on space warfare is the global economy. The U.S. Space Command’s ‘Vision for 2020’ space military plan warns that ‘the globalization of the world economy will continue with a widening between “haves” and “have-nots.”‘ U.S. ‘control of space’ is seen as important to suppress serious challenges to U.S. corporate-dominated globalization.”
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MICHELLE CIARROCCA
Senior research associate at the World Policy Institute and co-author of “Tangled Web: The Marketing of Missile Defense 1994-2000” and “Nuclear Missile Deception: Corruption and Conflicts of Interest in the National Missile Defense Test Program,” Ciarrocca said today: “It should be duly noted that the ‘space commission’ on which Rumsfeld served until his appointment as defense secretary, was anything but objective. In fact, objective assessors need not apply. The panel was stacked to the gills with industry insiders and corporate executives who stand to profit from any expansion of military operations in space. No less than eight companies working on space technology and missile defense programs for the Pentagon were represented on the panel, including SY Technology, located in Huntsville, Alabama — home of the National Missile Defense program — and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which is the integration contractor for the Air Force’s Space and Missile System Center advanced programs. Additionally, three of the most ideological and conservative think tanks in D.C., some of which receive funding from defense contractors, were represented on the panel. The reality is that the report, from which Rumsfeld is pulling many of his space force ideas, is about shaping congressional opinion to favor even more money for an already bloated military budget. The report reflects what is good for industry, not what is good for American security.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167