SPACE WEAPONS, SPACE ACADEMIES, AND SPACE SANHEDRINS

While you're contemplating that "something" that NASA's Lunar Orbiter 3 photographed about the lunar surface in 1967 (q.v. last Wednesday's blog), you might want to consider the implications of the story of Mr. Trump establishing a space academy, which appeared in the same week as Israel announced a whole series of planned space-based defensive and offensive weapons (stories shared by T.M. and L.G.L.R. with our gratitude):

Establishing the US Space Academy

Trump Plans Nuclear-Powered Mars Mission, Announces Space Academy

Israel Reveals Plans To Build Space Weapons And Lasers Capable Of Striking Targets On Earth

A number of implications and speculations emerge from a consideration of these three articles, not the least of which has to do with their more or less simultaneous appearance in the media. Firstly, note the following things from the presidential executive order:

Sec. 2.  Establishment and Composition of the Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy.  (a)  There is hereby established the Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy (Commission).  The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shall serve as Chair of the Commission.  The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST) and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy (APEP) shall serve as Vice Chairs of the Commission.  The Deputy Administrator of NASA shall serve as Executive Director.

(b)  In addition to the Chair, Vice Chairs, and Executive Director, the Commission shall include the following officials or their designees:

(i)    the Secretary of War;

(ii)   the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff;

(iii)  the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(iv)   the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs;

(v)    the Secretary of the Air Force; and

(vi)   other full-time or permanent part-time employees of the Federal Government invited to join the Commission, at the discretion of the Chair, in consultation with the Vice Chairs.

Sec. 3.  Duties.  (a)  The Commission shall advise and assist the President regarding proposals to establish the United States Space Academy (Space Academy), a proposed NASA-led Federal academy dedicated to combining rigorous technical education with leadership development, discipline, and a durable commitment to public service.  The Space Academy will develop a professional corps of civically grounded leaders prepared to advance American interests within the space domain.

(b)  Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Commission shall submit to the President through the APST and the APEP a report proposing key details for the establishment of the Space Academy.  The report shall include recommendations regarding:

(i)     a governance framework for the Space Academy, including the appropriate organizational structure, authorities, accreditations, and relationships among relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies).  Among the frameworks considered, the Commission shall evaluate the option of establishing the Space Academy within NASA, including actions necessary to implement such a structure;

(ii)    an academic and leadership curriculum, including recommendations for degree programs, experiential training, and development programs;

(iii)   service obligations for graduates, including service in the Armed Forces and civilian Federal service and the conditions under which such obligations should be fulfilled;

(iv)    prerequisites for applicants, including citizenship status, security clearances, and government employment or military status;

(v)     the process for selection of the permanent physical location of the Space Academy appropriate for the chosen governance framework;

From these considerations it is clear that this is a long-term follow-through on Mr. Trump's establishment of the "Space Force" as a new military service branch, with the creation of a service academy to train officers for that service branch, similar to West Point for the Army, or the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, and the Merchant Marine Academy in New York.  This carries with it a clear implication: a service academy for space means ultimately that space will be weaponized if it has not been already. In my opinion, the announcement probably means that space has already been weaponized, and this is merely the public acknowledgement that it is a new environment for warfare and conflict. The move is a logical one if the USA in the suggestive words of the second article, is to "establish cosmic dominance".

I cannot help think, however, that all of this is related to the third article about Israel's big plans to establish itself as a space power, and by space power, it means to deploy space-based defensive and offensive weapons capable of striking the Earth's surface:

The Defense Ministry’s multiyear plan focuses on several areas.

The first is the expansion of IDF intelligence collection capabilities from space through multiple layers, allowing operations around the clock, in all weather conditions and across multiple locations simultaneously.

The second area involves establishing broad, resilient, and continuous communications capabilities for the defense establishment.

In addition, a dedicated budget will support offensive space operations focused on two main areas: weapons designed to protect Israeli satellites from hostile satellites, and weapons capable of striking targets on Earth from space, both to defend the Israeli home front and to strike hostile actors. 

One wonders how Israel will accomplish all of this without massive American financial support and technological transfers, and the answer perhaps lies in proposed recent legislation in America that would merge Israeli and American military command and procurement structures.  If that happens, then watch for the "space academy" to include Israeli "exchange student/cadets", and so on. As for striking targets on Earth, once Zionism exercises an influence over targeting policy, those targets could include any institutions perceived or designated to be hostile to those concepts, including non-governmental institutions, churches, think tanks, foundations, and their personnel and their domiciles.  The geopolitical and military thinking here is clear: if the radical Islamists seek a nuclear weapons capability, then neutralize that capability by space weapons platforms that can interdict and destroy it and any other center of cultural and conceptual resistance.

But that word "cosmic" (in the second article's phrase that all of this is necessary to "establish cosmic dominance") still haunts:  why not simply planetary dominance? or even "local celestial dominance." But no, the second article for some reason has concluded that all of this is in aid of establishing "cosmic" dominance, and the cosmos is a pretty big place, and if you're a believer in the Drake equation, probably has lots of "people" out there. That raises a significant question, particularly in the light and context of last Wednesday's blog about that "something" photographed above the lunar surface by the NASA Lunar Orbiter 3 probe in 1967: over whom do we - and the Israelis - need to establish "cosmic dominance"? I can think of a few answers to that question, and indeed, have some specific ideas in mind in posing that question. None of them, however, end very pleasantly...

See you on the flip side...

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