But he warns that any proposal for satellite removal requires international agreement because these systems could also be viewed as aggressive developments - as space weapons.
He also emphasized the need for boost-phase defenses, for which sea-, air- and space-based weapons will be necessary.
And watch out for the International Development Committee's report on whether the UK should continue to provide development aid to India - a country which critics point out has its own space and nuclear weapons programmes.
The official said the U.S. and Russia already benefit from satellites in space that monitor nuclear weapons facilities.
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There is the techno version of the future, filled with personal electronic implants, space travel and laser weapons.
In 2002, China and Russia proposed a treaty banning the deployment of weapons in space or attacks against space-based objects.
First, under the Clinton administration, some countries demanded that fissile-materials negotiations include formal talks on nuclear disarmament and a ban on weapons in space.
In their memorandum they agreed that an integrated European Aerospace and Defence Company should embrace civil, military transport and combat aircraft as well as helicopters, space launchers and guided weapons.
One of these amendments would have foreclosed the option to deploy space-based anti-missile weapons.
Furthermore, no country, including the United States, has ever given up territory and needed defensive space just because it had advanced weapons systems or sophisticated early warning technology.
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Clearly, our intelligence capabilities are not what they need to be when the threat comes not from weapons that can be monitored from space but from small, highly disciplined and ruthlessly secretive groups and their state sponsors.
Continued development and deployment of strategic offensive and defensive weapons, particularly naval, ballistic, space and cyber forces.
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These could involve ground-based anti-missile systems, airborne lasers and space-based sensors and, in due course, weapons (interceptors and directed energy).
Mr Gates wants a regular forum at which the two sides discuss issues such as nuclear weapons, missile defence, cyber-warfare and space.
While certain military interests have pushed for anti-satellite weapons since the Cold War, concern over the space junk that destroyed sats would create has kept the international community from serious pursuit of any "Star Wars"-like programs.
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Directed energy weapons such as lasers and particle beams, (either ground-based or space-based, having sufficient power to damage satellites or their sensors).
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