When China takes out our GPS satellites, you can thank the Clintons and Obama

An article appeared today about China’s out of control space station:

China’s first space station is hurtling towards earth amid fears the country’s space program has “lost control” of the module.

Chinese authorities have revealed the Tiangong-1 station was falling back to Earth and would enter the atmosphere some time late next year.

But while China has attempted to play down the development as simply the end of the mission, experts have warned chunks of the station weighing up to 100kg could cause damage upon re-entering earth’s atmosphere.

The developments came as China launched its Tiangong-2 space laboratory earlier this month as it attempts to build a space program.

That spurred me to thinking about the Chinese space program. In 2007 the Chinese blew up one of their own inoperative satellites:

At 5:28 PM EST on Jan. 11, 2007, a satellite arced over southern China. It was small—just 6 ft. long—a tiny object in the heavens, steadily bleeping its location to ground stations below, just as it had every day for the past seven years. And then it was gone, transformed into a cloud of debris hurtling at nearly 16,000 mph along the main thoroughfare used by orbiting spacecraft.

It was not the start of the world’s first war in space, but it could have been. It was just a test: The satellite was a defunct Chinese weather spacecraft. And the country that destroyed it was China. According to reports, a mobile launcher at the Songlin test facility near Xichang, in Sichuan province, lofted a multistage solid-fuel missile topped with a kinetic kill vehicle. Traveling nearly 18,000 mph, the kill vehicle intercepted the sat and—boom—obliterated it. “It was almost just a dead-reckoning flight with little control over the intercept path,” says Phillip S. Clark, an independent British authority who has written widely on the Chinese and Russian space programs.

This was a low orbit test. The more crucial spacecraft operate at higher altitudes:

Some satellites, however, are at greater risk than others. Most spacecraft — including spy sats — are in low Earth orbit, which stretches 1240 miles into space. As the Chinese test proved, such targets could be hit with medium-range missiles tipped with crude kill devices. GPS satellites are far higher, orbiting at about 12,600 miles. Many communications sats are in the 22,000-mile range. Destroying them requires a much more powerful and sophisticated long-range ballistic missile — yet it can be done. “You’d need a sky-sweeping capability to comprehensively negate a space support system that is scattered all over,” says John Pike, a space analyst at GlobalSecurity.org. “You’d need ICBM-size boosters — hundreds of them.”

Those satellites are critical to most of our lives:

Every industrialized country relies on satellites every day, for everything from computer networking technology to telecommunications, navigation, weather prediction, television and radio. This makes satellites especially vulnerable targets. Imagine the U.S. military suddenly without guidance for its soldiers and weapons systems, and its civilians without storm warnings or telephones.

Well, guess what. The Chinese now have the capability of putting killer satellites in those orbits.

Then, in 2013, China tested a missile that climbed to 18,000 miles—high enough to take out U.S. GPS satellites and nearly reaching the military’s early-warning satellites that hang in geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth. China is believed to have conducted similar tests in 2010, 2014 and 2015, leading Pentagon planners to conclude it will deploy these missiles, placing U.S. space systems under constant threat. “You don’t have a seven-year development plan if you’re not going to make it operational,” Hyten, the Air Force Space Command chief, said last year.

(Emphasis mine)

This would not have happened by now if not for Bill Clinton and his voracious appetite for money. As I pointed out last year, the Chinese space program was a mess in the 90’s. In 1994 Bernie Schwartz of Loral Space wanted to score a $250 million contract for providing cellular service in China. Then in 1996 Schwartz coincidentally wanted approval to launch a satellite on a Chinese rocket. Call me cynical, but I see the link between those two events. China needed guidance technology to improve their launch reliability and Schwartz wanted to hand it over. Not everybody in government was on board:

Schwartz and Loral are under scrutiny by the Justice Department and Congress over allegations that Loral shared sensitive technical data with the Chinese government, data that may have enhanced the reliability of their long-range military missiles.

Even Warren Christopher was alarmed:

The decision by the president to transfer satellite export approval to the Commerce Department overruled a recommendation by Secretary of State Warren Christopher and caused friction inside the Cabinet over concerns that American security could be compromised.

That concern for American security to the one thing Clinton wanted above all- money. So much so, that Clinton killed an ongoing investigation:

On Feb. 18, the president gave Loral permission for the launching, despite opposition from federal prosecutors who warned that the approval would jeopardize their investigation into the satellite maker’s earlier, unauthorized help to China’s rocket program.

Here once again are the timelines of the deal:

April 24, 1995: Loral chairman Schwartz gives $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.

June 30, 1995: Schwartz gives $20,000 to Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which provide support for Democratic Senate candidates.

Aug. 30, 1995: Schwartz gives $75,000 to DNC.

Sept. 30, 1995: Schwartz gives $20,500 to DSCC.

Oct. 9, 1995: Secretary of State Warren Christopher decides satellites should remain a military munitions item.

Nov. 29, 1995: Schwartz gives $100,000 to DNC.

Nov. 29, 1995: A Chinese government agency writes Loral, asking for help in getting an upgrade for its dual-use imaging technology, exports of which are prohibited under U.S. sanctions.

Jan. 26, 1996: Loral is sold to Lockheed for $9 billion.

 

Once Clinton approved the launch of a Chinese rocket with Loral Hughes help:

Feb. 6, 1996: Clinton approves the launch of four communications satellites on Chinese rockets.

Feb. 6, 1996: Wang Jun of CITIC, owners of percentages in Chinese satellite companies, visits the White House for coffee and dines with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

Feb. 8, 1996: The White House and Commerce Department begin to talk about the satellite export issue again.

Feb. 14, 1996: A Chinese rocket carrying Loral Intelsat satellite explodes, destroying a Chinese village.

Feb. 15, 1996: Schwartz gives $15,000 to DSCC.

Feb. 15, 1996: The State Department gets an urgent request from the White House to speed up the process of switching the satellite licensing to the Commerce Department.

Feb. 29, 1996: Schwartz gives $50,000 to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which bankrolls Democratic House candidates.

March 8, 1996: China launches missiles.

March 14, 1996: Clinton decides to move the satellite licensing function to the Commerce Department.

March 15, 1996: Loral President J.A. Lindfelt writes Commerce to say the export of a dual-use technology, known as synthetic aperture radar, is being held up by the Defense, State and Commerce departments.

April 1996: Schwartz announces the formation of Loral Space and Communications.

April 24, 1996: Schwartz gives $50,000 to DSCC.

June 10, 1996: Schwartz gives $100,000 to DNC.

July 22, 1996: Liu Chao-Ying of China Aerospace meets Clinton with Johnny Chung.

July 31, 1996: Schwartz gives $5,000 to DSCC.

 

The timeline of Chinese money:

August 1996: Chung accounts show an influx of $300,000 from Liu Chao-Ying.

Aug. 18, 1996: Chung gives $20,000 to DNC to attend Clinton’s birthday party.

Aug. 28, 1996: Chung gives $15,000 to DNC at Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Sept. 16, 1996: Schwartz gives $30,000 to DSCC.

Sept. 20, 1996: Schwartz gives $20,000 to DSCC.

Oct. 16, 1996: Schwartz gives $10,000 to DSCC.

Oct. 18, 1996: Schwartz gives $70,000 to DNC.

Oct. 24, 1996: Schwartz gives $5,000 to DSCC.

Nov. 5, 1996: New guidelines on Commerce licensing of satellites are published.

Nov. 5, 1996: Clinton is elected to his second term as president.

Oct., 1997: A federal investigation of Loral begins.

Feb. 12, 1998: As Clinton ponders whether to sign another waiver allowing launch of a Loral satellite aboard a Chinese missile, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger sends him a memo saying the Justice Department `has cautioned that a national interest waiver in this case could have a significant adverse impact on any prosecution [of Loral] that might take place based on a pending investigation of export violation.’

But Berger adds that `the advantages of this project outweigh the risk,’ and `it is inappropriate to penalize [Loral] before they have even been charged with any crime.’

Feb. 18, 1998: Clinton signs a waiver allowing Loral satellite to be lifted into orbit by the Chinese.

Obama? Well, he’s busy approving the sale of more rope the Chinese can use to hang us:

President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department — a move critics say will loosen export controls and potentially benefit Chinese missile development.

Marco Rubio tried to warn us all that China is practicing to destroy our satellites and the left laughed at him. It’s not going to be very funny if the Chinese choose to knock out our GPS system and cripple our communications. President Feckless would probably draw another red line in space and then go to the UN and scold America, as usual.

There is simply nothing that the Clintons won’t do for cash, and nothing obama won’t do for his one world order vision for this country. Electing hillary clinton will truly be a grave danger to the US.

DrJohn

DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.

DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.

Except for liberals being foolish.