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Cato Daily Dispatch for September 24, 2003

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(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

GAO: Bush Missile Defense Plan Could Be a Dud

"The Bush administration's push to deploy a $22 billion missile defense system by this time next year could lead to unforeseen cost increases and technical failures that will have to be fixed before it can hope to stop enemy warheads, congressional investigators said yesterday," The New York Times reports.

"The General Accounting Office, in a 40-page report, said the Pentagon was combining 10 crucial technologies into a missile defense system without knowing if they can handle the task, often described as trying to hit a bullet with a bullet."

Director of Defense Policy Studies Charles V. Peņa argues in "Missile Defense: Defending America or Building Empire?" that the missile defense program has little to do with protecting the homeland.

"Ultimately, the real rationale for missile defense is to protect U.S. forces so they can engage in military intervention throughout the world to enforce a Pax Americana -- a strategy of empire by another name," Peņa writes. "But such a strategy is simply the old Cold War strategy run amok and without a Soviet enemy. And it ignores the obvious: The result will be increased resentment of and animosity toward what is perceived by the rest of the world as an imperialist America."

California Measure Cans Spam

"Gov. Gray Davis signed into law Tuesday a groundbreaking bill aimed at banning often offensive 'spam' advertisements from the online mailboxes of millions of California computer users," the Los Angeles Times reports.

"Violators would be subject to a fine of $1,000 for each unsolicited message and up to $1 million for blitz campaigns in which hundreds of thousands or even millions of unsolicited sales pitches are sent out daily."

In "Why Canning 'Spam' Is a Bad Idea," Director of Technology Policy Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. writes: "Spam is just one form of marketing and is arguably less invasive than door-to-door selling or telemarketing. There are clearly different levels of "guilt" with respect to spamming practices. It is best to allow people to decide for themselves whether or not to entertain sales pitches, particularly given the range of problems legislation would create. And to the extent that unsolicited marketing is responsible for the growth of the Internet and future communications options, the hindrance of commerce could hamper access for many people, resulting in a government-created digital divide."

Key NASA Advisory Panel Members Resign

"NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe yesterday found himself with an unexpectedly blank slate as he sets out to revamp the agency's much-criticized safety apparatus, after all nine members of a key oversight panel resigned," according to The Washington Post.

"The nine aerospace experts on the advisory body said they and two staff members had privately reached the decision to quit to clear the way for O'Keefe to make the panel more effective, as called for by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and key congressional committees following the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. O'Keefe had also made negative comments about the panel."

Space: The Free-Market Frontier, edited by Cato Adjunct Scholar Edward Hudgins, includes essays by several leading experts, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who detail how the United States can move from the federally run, inefficient, and inaccessible space program to a free-market system.

"To move from the current situation of limited access to space and to truly make space a place for humans to work and play and live, it is useful to consider how we arrived at the current situation, what signs hold the promise of a commercial market future, and what policy changes might make space the next commercial market frontier," writes Hudgins. "The obvious way to open space to all is for NASA to back out of civilian space activities and let the private sector do what it does so well in other areas of the economy: reduce costs and develop new, innovative products and services."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org