GN CONFERENCE JOINT STATEMENT

Global Network 19th Annual Conference Joint Declaration

At a time when the Obama Administration would like to stress its adherence to a more multilateral National Space Policy, the members of Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space remind us that the real global situation in space militarization should still be disturbing, when we see the real-world plans of the U.S., its NATO allies, and industrial nations worldwide. Even as the four years of an unprecedented recession have cut into commercial space enterprises, military budgets continue unabated, and are approaching $1 trillion annually in the U.S. The knee-jerk air-assault responses to the Libya crisis, followed by the SEAL assault on the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan, show that even as citizens of the Middle East and Maghreb nations rise in largely nonviolent campaigns for change, the U.S. and its NATO allies respond with integrated air, sea, and ground assault campaigns that use the theaters of space in virtually every aspect of military strategy.

Global Network points out that, even as concern about long-range missile-defense networks in some regions has abated, the U.S., NATO, Israel, and other nations have increased the development pace on tactical land-based systems like the PAC-3 missile, and sea-based Aegis systems using SM-3 interceptors. Spy satellite launches from the National Reconnaissance Office have continued at a rapid pace, as have classified space-plane tests from the Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The space plane tests, in particular, are elements of a new Pentagon program called Conventional Prompt Global Strike, managed through the U.S. Strategic Command and highly favored by Obama. This mission seeks the ability to strike anywhere on the planet in a two-hour window. These developments are actually offensive. They are destabilizing, promote a new arms race, and siphon money from domestic needs without enhancing true security.

Trends in warfare in 2011 make it clear why Global Network has chosen Raytheon Corp. this year as representative of the large military-industrial giants we oppose. Raytheon is critical in development of the PAC-3 and SM-3, it produces elements of land- and space-based missile defense such as the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, and it outsources much intelligence processing from the National Reconnaissance Office and National Security Agency. As the Pentagon turns to space for Global Strike purposes, Raytheon is on the front line.

Global Network commits itself in 2011, a year of global citizen uprisings, to peaceful support of nonviolent struggle. GN supports the efforts of citizens in South Korea, Japan, Guam, and other nations in their struggle to remove U.S. bases, and calls on the U.S. and NATO to avoid military options in the Middle East and Africa. GN calls for an end to missile defense, negotiations for a treaty to ban weapons in space, the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, an end to global-strike plans, a reduction in military budgets worldwide, and a reorientation of space use to emphasize peaceful purposes.

- This meeting took place in Andover, Massachusetts on June 17-19, 2011. More than 100 people from eight countries attended the conference entitled Raytheon, Missile Offense, and Endless War: Working together to demilitarize and create a sustainable future.