Posted on 05/02/2006 9:34:49 PM PDT by FairOpinion
The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit.
The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive. No treaty or law forbids such work.
The laser research was described by federal officials who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's political sensitivity. The White House has recently sought to play down the issue of space arms, fearing it could become an election-year liability.
Indeed, last week Republicans and Democrats on a House Armed Services subcommittee moved unanimously to cut research money for the project in the administration's budget for the 2007 fiscal year. While Republicans on the panel would not discuss their reasons for the action, Congressional aides said it reflected a bipartisan consensus for moving cautiously on space weaponry, a potentially controversial issue that has yet to be much debated.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
When are we going to see an investigation who in Congress leaked it?
"The largely secret project"
Not anymore. Thanks NYT.
Remember, the NYT would have nothing to publish, if someone hadn't leaked it to them.
Disclosing classified information is a criminal offense.
Those who do, should be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
"In 1997, the American military fired a ground-based laser in New Mexico at an American spacecraft, calling it a test of satellite vulnerability. Federal experts said recently that the laser had had no capability to do atmospheric compensation and that the test had failed to do any damage.
Little else happened until January 2001, when a commission led by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the newly nominated defense secretary, warned that the American military faced a potential "Pearl Harbor" in space and called for a defensive arsenal of space weapons.
The Starfire research is part of that effort."
I am really sick and tired of this too. An average defense contractor employee would get fired and then jailed for doing this. Why do politicos and newspaper scribblers get a pass?
OPINION: I would like to see the leakers tried for treason.
If the leakers are convicted of treason; I would like to see them hung ASAP in the public square for all to see.
Period.
"No treaty or law forbids such work."
Adding that statement, without cause or reason, demonstrates the editorial bias of the NYT. The statement is just as out-of-place as it would be following a paragraph about a research program to build new and better rifles, jet fighters...or even mouse traps.
Maybe in 1982 this was secret but this is star wars spin off stuff.
I couldn't get past the headline.
Is "the administration" really developing laser weapons? Is this why Rove had to drop his advisor work, because his sub-system is way behind schedule? I like Bush, but I wouldn't trust McClellan within 100 feet of an electric outlet, much less being involved with high-power lasers.
They could get Cheney to test it on his next hunting trip.
In my mind, "The Administration" issue policy statements, makes political moves, and makes and announces DECISIONS about things. They don't actually implement most of the things the government does, that is left to the "executive branch" apparatus, in this case our military and civilian defense contractors.
I can't help but think that linked "The Administration" to this because they hope it makes it sound less desirable.
From article:
"Federal officials said Starfire's antisatellite work had grown out of one of the site's other military responsibilities: observing foreign satellites and assessing their potential threat to the United States. In 2000, the Air Force Research Laboratory, which runs Starfire, said the observatory's large telescope, by using adaptive optics, could distinguish objects in orbit the size of a basketball at a distance of 1,000 miles."
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How do we know that some nations don't already have weapons in space, and now we can't even shoot them down.
Lilberals want us to be sitting ducks to all our enemies.
Yeah, I read it that way to. It's as if they were saying "We need a treaty or law to forbid such work!"
Because sometimes, the best way to scare the bejeezus out of your enemies is to give them a tiny peek inside the toybox.
This "leak" was intentional and our current (and potential) adversaries know it.
And they don't like it.
Translation: "Rods From God was the only project we were working on...."
"This "leak" was intentional and our current (and potential) adversaries know it."
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I don't think so. Revealing that we have such weapon, or are doing research into it lets the enemy know, then they can take countermeasures, protecting their satellites against it, giving THEM the edge over us.
This kind of leak harms our ability to defend ourselves against the enemy.
Haven't the laws against treason and sedition been rescinded? Has anyone been accused/ tried of breaking these laws in the last 50 years?
Er, correction - "Rods From God *wasn't* the only project we were working on..."
I guess it's no secret anymore.
Thank God these traitors weren't in office during the Manhattan Project. They would've killed it dead.
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