Canada: A World Leader in the Militarisation
of Space
The article below summarises
a new report called "Canada's Role in the Militarisation
of Space: RADARSAT, The Warfighters' Eye in the Sky and
its links to Missile Defense." This 30,000-word
publication, with more than 350 references, is the latest issue
of Press for Conversion!, the magazine of the Coalition
to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT). It is now available online. (Access
it here.)
Spread the word: Permission is granted to quote
from the following article, or to publish it in its entirety,
as long as acknowledgements are given to the author, Press
for Conversion! and the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
(COAT). Please contact COAT
to let us know how you used of this information.
Please forward this email to any individuals or lists that might
be interested, post it to appropriate web sites and/or link to
COAT's web site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada's Leading Role in
the Militarisation of Space
By Richard Sanders, coordinator,
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) and editor, Press
for Conversion!
Few Canadians realise that their
taxes have long been used to make this country a leading force
in the militarisation of space.
The best example of this is RADARSAT, the
world's most advanced "synthetic aperture radar" (SAR)
satellite system. Although RADARSAT is commercial, it is probably
Canada's single-most important technological contribution to U.S.
war efforts. (Read
more: "RADARSAT: From Spin to Secrecy" and
"Meet 'the RADARSAT Family of Satellites.'")
A history of peaceful pretenses
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA),
Canadian politicians and the corporations behind RADARSAT have
proudly extolled its benefits to humanity and the environment.
They explain that since its 1995 launch, RADARSAT-1's SAR sensors
have used microwaves to produce earth images, even when the planet
is obscured by the cover of darkness, clouds, dust storms or the
most adverse weather conditions.
When the Conservative government of Prime
Minister Brian Mulroney announced the RADARSAT project in 1987,
then-Science Minister Frank Oberle said "This technology
is of no particular use to the military." Then, in 1995,
when the satellite was launched under the tutelage of Liberal
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, CSA officials repeated the
same refrain, saying RADARSAT would not be used for military purposes.
One CSA spokesperson, Mac Evans, tried to have it both ways saying:
"We are fostering the use of space for peaceful purposes...
That does not exclude military use." (Read
more: "Secret Military Eye in the Sky.")
A boon to warfighters and
spies
RADARSAT's cheerleaders have concealed
the fact that its data has been a tremendous boon to foreign militaries
and intelligence organisations. Most significantly, the U.S. Navy,
Air Force, Army and various spy agencies have been among the top
users of this publicly-funded, but now privately-controlled, Canadian
satellite. (Read
more: "U.S. Warfighters get their Hands on RADARSAT
Data.")
U.S. control of RADARSAT operations
For more than 10 years now, in exchange
for NASA's launch of RADARSAT-1, the U.S. government has controlled
15% of its observation time and gets complete access to all archived
RADARSAT after 6 months. Despite this, U.S. military and intelligence
agencies have also purchased many millions of dollars worth of
additional RADARSAT time.
Eagle Vision: A U.S. military
bridgehead to RADARSAT
A "family" of at least
five portable U.S. military ground stations, called "Eagle
Vision," was designed to control the operations of RADARSAT-1
and -2. Eagle Vision is "a cornerstone of the [U.S.] military's
commercial imagery exploitation" (SIGNAL Magazine,
March 2001) in large part because it controls RADARSAT operations,
and downlinks its data to deployed soldiers engaged in battle.
(Read
more: "Meet Eagle Vision: U.S. Military Bridgehead
to RADARSAT.")
Yugoslavia, Afghanistan,
Colombia, Iraq, and more...
U.S. warfighters have been understandably
grateful for their use of RADARSAT-1 data during Intelligence,
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations in their wars
in Yugoslavia (1999) and Afghanistan (2001-present). In 2001,
a 3-D terrain map of Colombia--made using RADARSAT data--was sold
to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), a U.S. Department
of Defense intelligence agency. In the case of Iraq, an Eagle
Vision ground station was deployed to the Persian Gulf in early
2003 and has been used throughout that war. A Pentagon source
told Space News: "It's doing great things... It's
working like gangbusters" (March
31, 2003). ). Within weeks of the war's outbreak, NIMA received
delivery of RADARSAT data covering 50% of the entire earth's surface,
reputedly for "a variety of logistical and planning purposes."
(MacDonald Dettwiler & Assoc., April
23, 2003).
Canadian taxpayers subsidising
U.S.-led wars
Many Canadians would be dismayed
if they knew their taxes have subsidised advanced satellite technology
for use in U.S. wars. The design and production of both RADARSAT-1
and -2 have cost Canadian taxpayers about one billion dollars.
About 90% of RADARSAT-1's $620-million pricetag was publicly funded,
while about 83% of RADARSAT-2's $525-million cost was covered
by Canadian taxes. (Read
more: "The Growing Costs of RADARSAT-1 and -2.")
Privatising RADARSAT to
firm owned by U.S. "missile defense" industry
From the start, the idea was to
privatise RADARSAT and the Liberal government was quick to begin
this process. The marketing and sales of RADARSAT data was given
to MacDonald Dettwiler
and Associates (MDA) of Vancouver. MDA was, at that time,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orbital
Sciences, a U.S. firm that is a top global producer of military
rockets, including "missile-defense" weapons systems.
RADARSAT-2's privatisation has been much more complete, with MDA
taking over the ownership and control of this second, more-advanced
Canadian satellite. (Read
more: "Selling Off the Rights to RADARSAT and its
Data.")
Retired CIA and top military
officers sell RADARSAT data to U.S. government
MDA sold the license to market and
sell RADARSAT-1 and -2 data outside Canada, to a U.S. company
called Orbimage. During the
privatisation process, Orbimage and MDA were both owned by Orbital
Sciences. In 1998, when Orbimage began selling RADARSAT data to
U.S. government clients, it began hiring a coterie of retired
U.S. military and intelligence officers, including several whose
high-level, Air Force careers were spent championing "missile
defense." (Read
more: "Meet the Staff at ORBIMAGE.")
The David Emerson connection
In 2000, when MDA was still controlled
by Orbital Sciences, David Emerson was on the Canadian subsidiary's
Board of Directors. Emerson had been a high-ranking, Social Credit
bureaucrat under BC Premier Bill Vanderzalm. Emerson later became
the Liberal's pro-"missile defense" Minister of Industry,
and is now the Conservative's Minister of International Trade.
(Read
more: "Meet David Emerson.")
The privatisation contracts
are secret
Despite efforts by the NDP and BQ,
the contracts between the Canadian government and MDA--which formalised
the privatisation of RADARSAT-1 and -2--have not been made available
for viewing by MPs. Liberal and Conservative MPs voted together
against a resolution asking if MPs could examine these privatisation
contracts. (Read
more: "The Contracts that Privatised RADARSAT are
Secret.")
Secret Annex of Canada-US
Treaty on RADARSAT-2
Secrecy also shrouds a Canada-U.S.
treaty signed in 2000 by then-Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy
and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Michael Byers, a UBC
Professor teaching Global Politics and International Law, told
Parliament's Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee
that the treaty's secret annex "could enable the U.S. to
demand RADARSAT-2 be used to take images in preparation for a
military intervention to which Canada was opposed....[and] for
a war that was illegal under international law" (February
22, 2005).
Even so, the government refused to let MPs read the Canada-U.S.
treaty's annex. Although Canadian lawmakers were not permitted
to see what this secret annex obliges Canada to do with RADARSAT-2
data, a combined Liberal-Conservative effort ensured that the
"The RADARSAT Bill" (C-25) was passed into law. (Read
more: "Canada-U.S. Treaties: RADARSAT and Military
Exports" and "The RADARSAT Law’s Secret
Annex.")
GMTI: The "Holy Grail"
of Space-Based Radar
U.S. and NATO warfighters are looking
forward to taking advantage of RADARSAT-2 data after its long-awaited
launch in December 2006. The most coveted military application
of this space-based radar system is its Ground Moving Target Indication
(GMTI) capability. It will be the first satellite ever launched
with this cutting-edge capacity to track and target moving, ground
vehicles. U.S. Air Force General Thomas Moorman, Jr., refered
to GMTI as the "holy grail" for U.S. warfighters.
RADARSAT-2 "data exploitation"
and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
According to the DRDC's
annual report (1988-99), RADARSAT-2 "data exploitation"
was developed by this agency of Canada's Department of National
Defence, "under co-operation with BMDO's Joint National Test
Facility." (America's BMDO, or Ballistic Missile Defence
Organization, coordinated the this controversial weapons program
between 1994 and 2002, and is now called the Missile Defense Agency.)
Planning U.S./NATO "first
strikes" for "Theatre Missile Defense"
RADARSAT-2's GMTI is being groomed
for use in gathering target data for first-strike U.S. and NATO
attacks during "Theatre Missile Defense" (TMD) engagements.
TMD is the most important aspect of "missile defense."
Its stated purpose is to protect troops, warships and their weapons
systems during deployments in faraway warzones of the not-too-distant
future. (Read
more: "RADARSAT, Missile Defense and the Holy Grail"
and "GMTI and Theater Missile Defense.")
Rendering RADARSAT unto
NATO's CAESAR
NATO, and particularly U.S., warfighters
have been preparing themselves--during various military exercises,
war games and computer simulations over the past eight years--to
use RADARSAT-2's GMTI capabilities in future wars. Beginning in
1999, Canada joined a NATO-led effort called the Coalition Aerial
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (CAESAR) project. CAESAR's focus
was to ensure the deep integration of air-based SAR/GMTI assets
of three leading military states (the U.S., UK and France), with
Canada's RADARSAT-2. Canada was the only country that rendered
a space-based SAR/GMTI sensor unto CAESAR, because no other country
has such revolutionary military technology.
CAESAR is dead, long live
MAJIIC
Although CAESAR expired in 2005,
its successor is an expanded and even more ambitious NATO-led
pact called the Multi-sensor Aerospace-Ground Joint ISR Interoperability
Coalition (MAJIIC). It integrates several new Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensor systems, besides SAR and GMTI,
into the warfighters' toolkit. Canada's contribution has grown
beyond being the only nation to provide a space-based radar platform
(RADARSAT) and now includes providing a Tactical Uninhabitated
Aerial Vehicle. In addition, a NATO
technical report says Canada will likely play host to a MAJIIC
"live-fly" exercise in Alberta this June. This likely
refers to the annual "Maple Flag" war game that Canada
has hosted at the Cold Lake Air Force Base for 40 years. This
year, it begins on May 14 (Mothers' Day) and continues until June
23. (Read
more: "From CAESAR to MAJIIC: How RADARSAT plugs Canada
in to future NATO-led wars.")
One of the main functions of both CAESAR and MAJIIC has been to
enhance the ability of the world's best-equipped warfighters to
work together as one integrated team, using their nation's respective
SAR/GMTI technologies. These preparations have included huge "live-fly"
war games with incorporated computer simulations, practised warfighting
scenarios with major "theatre missile defense" components.
(Read
more: "Clean Hunter 2001: RADARSAT in a TMD War Game"
and "TMD: Coming to a Theatre of War Near You?")
What's next? RADARSAT-3
RADARSAT-1 and -2 have ensured Canada's
leading role in the race to further militarise space. To ensure
that Canada maintains this position, a RADARSAT-3 is now in the
works. Both MDA
and the CSA
have touted this follow-on project as "the most advanced
space-borne land information and mapping mission ever conceived."
As such, RADARSAT-3 will be even more useful than its predecessors
in the ISR operations of upcoming U.S.-led wars.
Canada's "no-means-yes"
policies: "Missile defense" and the Iraq War
Various Canadian government departments,
agencies and crown corporations have worked hand-in-glove with
military corporations to create, develop and deploy a wide variety
of "missile defense" weapons systems. This long-standing
complicity did not end with the government's "no" to
joining "missile defense."
This hypocritical "no-means-yes" policy on "missile defense" followed the Canadian government's duplicitous non-involvement in the Iraq war. Canada has, in fact, been deeply engaged in that war from the very beginning. As then-U.S. Ambassador, Paul Cellucci, said in early 2003: "Ironically, the Canadians indirectly provide more support for us in Iraq than most of those 46 countries that are fully supporting us." (Read more: "The War in Iraq: Another Canadian "No-Means-Yes" Policy in Action.")
Watching the watchers;
debunking their myths
Considering the rapid advances in
ISR sensors and weapons technologies, it is crucial for those
concerned about war, militarism, state terrorism and increasing
human rights abuses--such as the U.S. government's unwarranted
surveillance of the public--to ask that age-old question: "Who
will watch the watchers?" (Read
more: "Learning from Two Commandments of War: Know
the Enemy and Take the High Ground.")
Exposing the truth about RADARSAT's part
in making Canada a leading collaborator in space militarisation
is part of the process of "watching the watchers." This
monitoring of the military-industrial complex, and its continually
re-elected political allies, is part of a larger struggle to debunk
the widely-held myth that Canada is a strong force for peace on
the global stage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The article above summarises a new report called "Canada's
Role in the Militarisation of Space: RADARSAT, The Warfighters'
Eye in the Sky and its links to Missile Defense." This 30,000-word
publication, with more than 350 references, is the latest issue
of Press for Conversion!, the magazine of the Coalition
to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT). It is now available online. (Access
it here.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press for Conversion! issues on "Missile Defense":
The four most recent issues of Press
for Conversion! examine "missile defense"-related
subjects. Of those, the three latest--released since the Canadian
government's February 2005 statements that pretended non-involvement
in "missile defense"--have exposed a wealth of evidence
to expose ongoing Canadian government, corporate and military
support for this controversial, U.S.-led weapons-development program.
See the Tables of Contents and read the articles online by clicking
the links below:
#58
(March 2006)
Canada's Role in the Militarisation of Space:
RADARSAT, The Warfighters' Eye in the Sky and its links to Missile
Defense
#57
(October 2005)
Canada’s Role in so called 'Missile Defense':
Part II, Sea-based, Theatre Ballistic Missile Defense
#56
(June 2005)
Canada’s Role in so called "Missile Defense":
Part I, NORAD, Government Largesse and the ABC’s of Corporate
Complicity
#55
(December 2004)
Missile Defense: Trojan Horse for the Weaponization of Space
For more information, please refer to COAT's
website.
To subscribe, renew or order hard copies
of Press for Conversion!