The new defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, the first to serve in that position a second time (having once before been defense secretary during Gerald Ford's presidency), brings with him a set of policy positions that—combined with President George W. Bush's campaign platform, and the views of the Republicans who control both houses of Congress—seem likely to reprise the Pentagon's interest from the 1980s in a variety of weapons systems.
For example, the Bush administration is widely expected to push for a sharp expansion of plans for a system to defend the United States against ballistic-missile attacks. The Clinton administration, with Congress' agreement, aimed to develop a missile-defense system using land-based missiles that could defend against a few missiles, such as an accidental launch or a terrorist attack. But Bush said during the presidential campaign that the nation should have a more robust defense against missile attack, and that has been interpreted as a plan to move back toward the space-based missiles and lasers that President Reagan championed in the 1980s.
If that is his intent, Bush will have a solid ally in Rumsfeld, who, in 1998, headed a federal commission to examine the threat to the United States from ballistic missiles. The group—known as the Rumsfeld Commission—concluded that the threat was more serious than previously estimated by the government and is growing. Moreover, the commission found, the United States might have little warning of new enemies that might be able to attack via ballistic missiles tipped with weapons of mass destruction.
The commission's report galvanized Congressional supporters of ballistic-missile defenses and prompted calls for an expansion of the Pentagon's defense programs.
Laser-based defense technology
In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, after Bush named him to be defense secretary, Rumsfeld declined to discuss the possible technical details of an expanded missile-defense system. He made clear, however, that he believes the nation should make a greater effort to improve its military defense.
"Credible deterrence no longer can be based solely on the prospect of punishment through massive retaliation," Rumsfeld told senators. "It must be based on a combination of offensive nuclear and non-nuclear defensive capabilities working together to deny potential adversaries the opportunity and the benefits that come from the threat or the use of weapons of mass destruction against our forces, our homeland, as well as those of our allies."
The Bush-Cheney election platform pledged to improve US military strength by "skipping a generation" in weapons technology. Although Bush and Cheney never explained precisely what they meant, it seems likely that they intend to embrace advanced technologies such as laser weapons.
Of course, the Clinton administration did invest in some laser defenses against ballistic missiles—most notably, the Airborne Laser, a Boeing 747 equipped with a chemical laser that could shoot down medium-range ballistic missiles in the first few moments after takeoff. The administration also spent some funds on research for space-based lasers, albeit less than most Republicans wanted.
Furthermore, in the waning days of the Clinton administration, the Pentagon awarded a total of $8.6 million toward 19 projects relating to high-energy lasers, such as laser technology, adaptive optics, and the interaction of laser beams with target materials. The contracts were awarded by the Pentagon's new High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office, formed after complaints that the military was giving laser technology perilously short shrift.
But antiballistic-missile technology is not the only arena in which Rumsfeld's Pentagon might expand its use of lasers. Another is in maintaining control of space, through the use of ground- or space-based lasers to attack other nation's satellites.
Just days after Rumsfeld was selected as defense secretary, another commission led by him issued a report about the military's use of space that warned that the United States must take stronger steps to safeguard its military spacecraft. "An attack on elements of US space systems during a crisis or conflict should not be considered an improbable act. If the US is to avoid a 'Space Pearl Harbor' it needs to take seriously the possibility of an attack on US space systems," the Rumsfeld panel warned. Although the commission did not cite the prospect of an attack by an enemy laser, that is one scenario often suggested by some military analysts.
And with good reason: the United States has considered doing just that to enemy spacecraft. Indeed, the Rumsfeld commission endorsed the need for antisatellite weapons. "The US will require means of negating satellite threats, whether temporary and reversible or physically destructive," the report concluded in a statement that appears to endorse the revival of antisatellite-weapon development, which fell dormant under the Clinton administration. Under previous Republican administrations, one of the principal antisatellite weapons pursued by the Pentagon was a large, ground-based laser—yet another project that may rise from the ashes in Rumsfeld's Pentagon.