U.S. commercial and military satellites are under threat, Undersecretary of State Robert G. Joseph stated.

Speaking to the George C. Marshall Institute, Joseph warned that a number of countries are “acquiring capabilities to counter, attack and defeat U.S. space systems.” For the technology-reliant United States, this is bad news.

The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the short-term ripple effects they had on the U.S. economy demonstrate that America’s enemies are adept at diagnosing and exploiting American weaknesses. As such, Joseph feels that the U.S. space system also stands as “a highly lucrative target” for terrorists or enemy nations, like Iran and North Korea. USA Today reported:

“For our part, we must take all of these threats seriously because space capabilities are essential” to the U.S. economy and government, Joseph said. …Joseph listed telecommunications, transportation, electrical power, water supply, gas and oil storage, transportation systems, emergency services, banking and finance, and government services as relying heavily on data transmitted by satellites.

Technology is among America’s strongest assets. It helps underpin an above-average standard of living for American citizens, while also giving America a strong military edge over its enemies abroad. But technology is also one of America’s weak points: The orderly functioning of America’s infrastructure and the superiority of American military forces heavily depend on it. Disabling proper functioning of America’s technological infrastructure could leave the country vulnerable to attack and foster a climate of civil disorder.

Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology and Terrorism in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, 1999, Michael A. Vatis of the National Infrastructure Protection Center stated, “Foreign nations are developing information warfare programs because they see that they cannot defeat the United States in a head-to-head military encounter and they believe that information operations are a way to strike at what they perceive as America’s Achilles heel—our reliance on information technology to control critical government and private sector systems.”

As Vatis suggested, an enemy confronting the United States in a head-on military clash is a highly unlikely scenario. However, the prospect of an invasion becomes more likely under the theory that once America’s technological infrastructure is disabled or severely compromised, the U.S. would likely lack the ability to either muster a call to war or to coordinate its military assets to face an incoming invader. If such a scenario were to occur, attacking American space satellites, which control large swaths of American civil and military infrastructure, could be a precursor to a more direct invasion.

As an example of how America is a target of technology warfare, a 2005 report prepared by the United States Congressional Research Service titled “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress” described how “China opensource writings demonstrate an interest in information warfare … as an increasingly important element of warfare, particularly against a sophisticated opposing force such as the U.S. military. Concern about potential plaiw/io capabilities has been heightened by recent press reports about attacks on U.S. computer systems that in some cases appear to have originated in China. One observer has stated that ‘China even now is planting viruses in U.S. computer systems that they will activate’ in the event of a military conflict with the United States” (Defense Today, Aug. 2, 2005).

The door is clearly open for foreign nations to exploit American technology weaknesses. As foreign nations close the technology gap between themselves and America, the U.S. can expect to have this weakness tested. And to nations that are already technologically more on a par with the United States, like Europe, America should pay particular attention, because they have the technological wherewithal to bring America to its knees.