Space as a Strategic Asset

Joan Johnson-Freese argues that the race for space weapons and the U.S. quest for exclusive or at least dominant ownership of strategic space assets have alienated the very allies that the United States needs in order to maintain its leading role in space exploration. Taking a balanced look at the issues that have contributed to the decline of America's manned space program, such as lack of political support and funding, Johnson-Freese offers not only a critique but also a plan for enhancing U.S. space security through cooperation rather than competition. She begins with a brief overview of the history of international space development through four eras: before Sputnik, the space race, after Apollo, and globalization. Then she focuses on how policy changes of the mid-1990s have changed the nation, examining why the United States has grown obsessed with the development of space technology not just as a tool for globalization but as a route toward expanding an already dominant arsenal of weapons. Johnson-Freese claims that these policy choices have greatly affected the attitudes and actions of other countries, and in the fight to achieve security, the United States has instead put itself at greater peril. Johnson-Freese explains complex technical issues in clear, accessible terms and suggests a way forward that is comprehensive rather than partisan. America is not the only country with space ambitions, but it is unique in viewing space as a battlefield and the technological advancements of other nations as a dire threat. Urgent and persuasive, Space as a Strategic Asset underscores the danger of allowing our space program to languish and the crucial role of cooperation in protecting the security of our country and the world.

Science & Math

Johnson-Freese, Joan

Astronomy & Space Science

Columbia University Press

Rather than examining only the civil or military side of the US space program, as have many books in the past, Space, the Dormant Frontier takes a unique look at the space program as a whole. Part of the book's treatise is that the two communities must stop ignoring each other if the US space program is to move forward beyond being a science project, jobs program, or political football. How the program got into its current, semi-desperate state is also examined, as history has given space a legacy once glorious, now an albatross. The authors include information and analysis on the military and civil space programs, challenge the perspective of the Washington Beltway analyst with vested interests in the status quo, and make policy recommendations based on realism, rather than idealism.

Space, the Dormant Frontier: Changing the Paradigm for the 21st Century

Engineering & Transportation

Handberg, Roger

Transportation

Praeger

Educating America's Military (Cass Military Studies)

This book offers a detailed examination of the professional military education system in the United States, from a critical, insider's perspective. The mission of America’s war colleges is to educate senior military officers in both the ways of war and the defence of peace. But are these colleges doing the best job possible in carrying out that important mission? Military education faces many demands, including a lack of preparation by the students, uneven quality of the faculty, and confusion over the curriculum. Many officers attend resident programs at the war colleges programs against the career advice of their leadership, despite the fact that they are virtually guaranteed graduation after less than a year of study, while others do their best to avoid it entirely. As the professional military education system has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, some have even called for closing the war colleges. That answer, however, does not serve the United States well, especially in a complex, globalized environment, where military leaders need the best specialized education to prepare them for their future challenges. This volume examines the system that created and supports the perpetuation of this system, and why it is imperative that it be fixed. Written by a faculty member at a military college with twenty years' experience of the PME system, this book will of much interest to students of the US Military, US politics and military education in general.

History

Americas

Routledge

This book offers a detailed examination of the professional military education system in the United States, from a critical, insider's perspective. The mission of America’s war colleges is to educate senior military officers in both the ways of war and the defence of peace. But are these colleges doing the best job possible in carrying out that important mission? Military education faces many demands, including a lack of preparation by the students, uneven quality of the faculty, and confusion over the curriculum. Many officers attend resident programs at the war colleges programs against the career advice of their leadership, despite the fact that they are virtually guaranteed graduation after less than a year of study, while others do their best to avoid it entirely. As the professional military education system has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, some have even called for closing the war colleges. That answer, however, does not serve the United States well, especially in a complex, globalized environment, where military leaders need the best specialized education to prepare them for their future challenges. This volume examines the system that created and supports the perpetuation of this system, and why it is imperative that it be fixed. Written by a faculty member at a military college with twenty years' experience of the PME system, this book will of much interest to students of the US Military, US politics and military education in general.

Women, Peace and Security: An Introduction

Routledge-Cavendish

In the popular imagination, space is the final frontier. Will that frontier be a wild west, or will it instead be treated as the oceans are: as a global commons, where commerce is allowed to flourish and no one country dominates? At this moment, nations are free to send missions to Mars or launch space stations. Space satellites are vital to many of the activities that have become part of our daily lives—from weather forecasting to GPS and satellite radio. The militaries of the United States and a host of other nations have also made space a critical arena—spy and communication satellites are essential to their operations. Beginning with the Reagan administration and its attempt to create a missile defense system to protect against attack by the Soviet Union, the U.S. military has decided that the United States should be the dominant power in space in order to protect civilian and defense assets. In Heavenly Ambitions, Joan Johnson-Freese draws from a myriad of sources to argue that the United States is on the wrong path: first, by politicizing the question of space threats and, second, by continuing to believe that military domination in space is the only way to protect U.S. interests in space.
Johnson-Freese, who has written and lectured extensively on space policy, lays out her vision of the future of space as a frontier where nations cooperate and military activity is circumscribed by arms control treaties that would allow no one nation to dominate—just as no one nation's military dominates the world's oceans. This is in the world's interest and, most important, in the U.S. national interest.

Heavenly Ambitions: America's Quest to Dominate Space

University of Pennsylvania Press

An examination of policies within a three-part time frame: US leads the way (1958-69); increase in cooperative activity (1970-84); and multiple actors give rise to choices (1985-present). Discusses national security considerations and political environments as variables within the international policy making arena. The text is offered as a reference tool for future policy shaping in a field constantly subject to change on multiple levels. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Changing Patterns of International Cooperation in Space (Orbit, a Foundation Series)

Orbit Book Co

Changing Patterns of International Cooperation in Space

Krieger Pub. Co

The Chinese Space Program: A Mystery Within a Maze is the first unclassified, comprehensive analysis of Chinese efforts in space. It not only describes the activities the Chinese are engaged in, but does so within the context of Chinese political, economical, and cultural parameters critical to realistic and pragmatic policy analysis. Projections are then offered from the information provided concerning where China might be going in the future and equally important, what policy actions the United States might take to avoid a confrontational stance with China and to encourage Beijing to build a more stable, cooperative regime.

The Chinese Space Program: A Mystery Within a Maze (Orbit : A Foundation Series)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Johnson-Freese, Joan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Johnson-Freese, Joan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Johnson-Freese, Joan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Space as a Strategic Asset

Space, the Dormant Frontier: Changing the Paradigm for the 21st Century

Educating America's Military (Cass Military Studies)

Educating America's Military (Cass Military Studies)

Women, Peace and Security: An Introduction

Heavenly Ambitions: America's Quest to Dominate Space

Heavenly Ambitions: America's Quest to Dominate Space

Changing Patterns of International Cooperation in Space (Orbit, a Foundation Series)

Changing Patterns of International Cooperation in Space

The Chinese Space Program: A Mystery Within a Maze (Orbit : A Foundation Series)