Chinese Destroy Satelite with Ballistic Missile… Thanks, Bill.
By
Bat One
on January 23, 2007 at 04:18 pm
16 Comments
Chinese is a language that lends itself more toward the aesthetic and ethereal than it does to detail-oriented scientific and engineering concerns. Gunpowder, for example, was invented at least 1000 years before Marco Polo brought the substance back from one of his trips to the Middle Kingdom for the Europeans to use inventing firearms.
I mention this because the recent shoot-down by the Chinese of one of their own weather satellites strikes me as a “great leap forward” in the development of a very complex technology. (Pun intended.)
The point is that the defense of the US rests largely on its satellite technology. Photographic spy satellites, electronic eavesdropping satellites, communications satellites, GPS satellites used specifically for an array of precision weapons targeting.
Similarly, our nation’s economy rests to a large degree on satellite technology, from secure world-wide financial transmissions to navigation of virtually all commercial vehicles, on the road, the seas, or in the sky.
It’s difficult enough to build a ballistic missile and fire it successfully. It is quite another thing entirely to make it hit a pre-determined target. Either a stationary target hundreds or even thousands of miles away, or a small target orbiting 500 miles above the earth. Both exercises in targeting require a very sophisticated system of missile guidance. So, where did the Chinese get such a capability? Where indeed?
From Salon magazine, May 1998,
In apparent exchange for substantial contributions to the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign by Loral chairman Bernard Schwartz, and those of overseas Chinese funneled through a number of “donors” and fundraisers such as Johnny Chung, Clinton switched the licensing authority for transfers of ballistic missile guidance and satellite technology to China from the State Department to Ron Brown’s Commerce Department, then personally signed off on the transfers.
Nor was Loral the only US defense technology firm to transfer significant defense and satelite related capability to the Chinese with the blessings of the Clinton administration.
This from the Washington Post
So now we know where the technology came from… how it is that the Chinese are now able to target and destroy space-based satellites. Was the Clinton-Gore reelection worth this? I doubt it, for we are now hugely at risk, both militarily and economically.
It will be interesting to see just what Hilary has to say about China and the threat it clearly poses to US interests as she pursues her bid for the White House.
I mention this because the recent shoot-down by the Chinese of one of their own weather satellites strikes me as a “great leap forward” in the development of a very complex technology. (Pun intended.)
The point is that the defense of the US rests largely on its satellite technology. Photographic spy satellites, electronic eavesdropping satellites, communications satellites, GPS satellites used specifically for an array of precision weapons targeting.
Similarly, our nation’s economy rests to a large degree on satellite technology, from secure world-wide financial transmissions to navigation of virtually all commercial vehicles, on the road, the seas, or in the sky.
It’s difficult enough to build a ballistic missile and fire it successfully. It is quite another thing entirely to make it hit a pre-determined target. Either a stationary target hundreds or even thousands of miles away, or a small target orbiting 500 miles above the earth. Both exercises in targeting require a very sophisticated system of missile guidance. So, where did the Chinese get such a capability? Where indeed?
From Salon magazine, May 1998,
The Clinton administration between 1993 and 1996 allowed numerous exports of potential ballistic-missile technology to the Chinese government despite China’s refusal, in some instances, to allow inspections to assure that the technology was only being used for civilian purposes, according to classified documents and four U.S. government officials.
Moreover, as early as 1993, a classified Pentagon study raised questions about the possible diversion of U.S. technology by the Chinese military for China’s ballistic-missile program, according to the documents and sources. Defense Department officials privately charge that the Clinton administration ignored its warnings regarding the potential diversions.
U.S. oversight of high-technology exports to China has been hampered by the fact that there has been no formal arrangement with China to allow for inspections, according to a Clinton administration official: “We don’t have an agreement with China for postshipment verification checks.”
In apparent exchange for substantial contributions to the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign by Loral chairman Bernard Schwartz, and those of overseas Chinese funneled through a number of “donors” and fundraisers such as Johnny Chung, Clinton switched the licensing authority for transfers of ballistic missile guidance and satellite technology to China from the State Department to Ron Brown’s Commerce Department, then personally signed off on the transfers.
Loral’s chairman, Bernard Schwartz, has personally been the single largest campaign contributor to the national Democratic Party during the Clinton presidency, making $1.1 million in contributions in recent years.
When Loral was granted the waiver in February by the Clinton administration, the aerospace corporation was under investigation by the Justice Department for providing unauthorized assistance to China’s ballistic-missile program. Justice Department officials were concerned that a waiver might make it tougher to bring a potential criminal prosecution against Loral.
Nor was Loral the only US defense technology firm to transfer significant defense and satelite related capability to the Chinese with the blessings of the Clinton administration.
This from the Washington Post
Hughes (Electronics Corp.), the world’s largest satellite-builder and a favorite of U.S. trade officials (Commerce Department), has gotten almost all it has sought from the Clinton administration on China deals, through in-your-face lobbying tactics and a revolving-door hiring policy for officials departing key agencies, government and industry officials said.
Angry at State, (Hughes CEO C. Michael) Armstrong… soon got Clinton to name him chairman of the President’s Export Council, a presidential advisory group. It was an odd choice, given Armstrong’s GOP affiliations and his past blunt talks with Clinton, industry officials said. But then again, Armstrong did represent a huge firm beloved by administration technology wonks in a key electoral state, they said…
From that perch, Armstrong lobbied Secretary of State Warren Christopher and many members of the administration and Congress for his key objective: moving licensing authority for all Chinese satellite deals from State to Commerce.
In 1995 Armstrong hired Loretta Dunn, then a top aide to Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown, as Hughes’s vice president for trade. She lobbied numerous former colleagues in the administration and is credited with helping arrange Clinton’s March 1996 decision shifting regulatory authority over Chinese satellite deals to her former agency.
“When we say we’re questioning the Clinton administration’s policy on satellite sales to China, we should say it’s the Clinton-Hughes-Armstrong policy,” said a congressional investigator. “Hughes is the Commerce Department.”
So now we know where the technology came from… how it is that the Chinese are now able to target and destroy space-based satellites. Was the Clinton-Gore reelection worth this? I doubt it, for we are now hugely at risk, both militarily and economically.
It will be interesting to see just what Hilary has to say about China and the threat it clearly poses to US interests as she pursues her bid for the White House.
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