The US Space Command was set up by the Pentagon to “help institutionalize the use of space.” Or, as the motto of one of its units declares, in stark contrast to the spirit of global cooperation behind the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to be “Master of Space.”

The Vision for 2020 document was released in 1998 by General Howell M. Estes III, its Commander in Chief.

The report opens with crawling text evidently intended to resemble the opening text of Star Wars. “US Space Command,” it says, “dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment. Integrating Space Forces into war-fighting capabilities across the full spectrum of conflict.”

Vision for 2020states, “Historically, military forces have evolved to protect national interests and investments-both military and economic.” Nations built navies “to protect and enhance their commercial interests” and during “the westward expansion of the United States, military outposts and the cavalry emerged to protect our wagon trains, settlements and railroads. The emergence of space power follows both of these models. During the early portion of the 2lst Century, space power will also evolve into a separate and equal medium of warfare.”

The US had shifted from the treaty it had been an integral part in drafting and getting passed, which stated that space was only to be used for the greater good of man, to a priority on the use of space to protect American interests and investments, now viewing it as a war-fighting platform.