The U.S. dominance in “near space” not only helps guarantee total global control, it guarantees huge profits for weapons corporations (see “Rods from God”). In April, several thousand Pentagon space warriors and space industry executives gathered in Colorado Springs for the 19th Annual Space Symposium. “Transforming the Future” was the theme of the symposium, which included workshops such as “The Role of Space in Homeland Defense and Homeland Security” and “Views from the Top—a CEO Roundtable.” The latter program included presentations by some of the leaders of the 19 “major U.S. space companies” that co-sponsored the symposium, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. According to a press release promoting the event, “With billions of dollars in business-to-business space deals struck each year at the conference, the National Space Symposium places heavy emphasis on executive networking.” Indeed, according to a press release, in 2002 “space industry revenues are expected to rocket past the $145 billion mark.”
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Joel Bleifuss, a former director of the Peace Studies Program at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is the editor & publisher of In These Times, where he has worked since October 1986.
