Space Command and its civilian sister organization, the National Reconnaissance Office, which launches and operates U.S. spy satellites, provide the critical foundation for U.S. warfare.

For the United States, control of space is, along with the control of the sea, the foundation of power. Control of space allows the United States to see, speak and operate globally.

Precision Guided Munitions are precise only to the extent that there is clear intelligence on the location of an enemy target. Whether that target is identified by an infantryman on the ground,

an unmanned aerial vehicle or a satellite, at some point in the cycle that intelligence was enabled by space-based assets. Without those assets, U.S. warfighting capability would be seriously compromised and, perhaps, even crippled.

At this point, U.S. space-based assets are secure, simply because no one has attempted to destroy them. There is little question that in a future war against even minimally technically capable enemies, the United States will face what Donald Rumsfeld's report called a "space-based Pearl Harbor."

Any country contemplating war with the United States understands that unless the United States is blinded in space, it has an overwhelming advantage. We suspect that this is something that al Qaeda is discovering as well.

Therefore it follows that, at some point in the next generation, U.S. space-based assets will come under attack and -- treaties or not -- the United States will operate against the satellites of other nations.

Space Command right now is a service organization, servicing everything from strategic to tactical operations.