Ground-based RF jammers and laser "dazzlers" might pose a more immediate threat to satellites than deployments of systems formally defined as space weapons, warns a study published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The issue has particular resonance as speculation has mounted in recent weeks that the Bush administration is weighing a pullback of some aspects of a 1996 Clinton administration directive on space policy to allow for placement of the first weapons in space. "We may think our intentions are good and peaceful, and that other nations should respect our benign hegemony but that's not the way the rest of the world views it." |