Robert G. Joseph, the U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the State Department, defends the new U.S. National Space Policy against its critics, arguing that the U.S. has an obligation to defend its space assets and space arms control has empirically proven unworkable.
The United States does not have any weapons in space, a State Department arms control official says, nor does it have plans to build any. John Mohanco told members of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva June 13 that the United States steadfastly is committed to the exploration and use of space "by all nations for peaceful purposes."