If country A is hostile to the nation owning the SPS facility it might deliberately provoke an attack on its military satellite in the hope that the SPS facility would be damaged and that the SPS owners would retaliate against B. 4.3 Scenarios for Assaults Against SPS Since the geopolitics of the next century are unknowable today, it seems instructive to consider the following questions: If the SPS were in place today, and if we were to ignore the enormous differences between the present geopolitical environment and that which would result from the SPS having been deployed, from what quarters could we anticipate assaults against the SPS? What kinds of economic, ideological, or political goals would motivate assaults on the SPS? Such an exercise can suggest a number of alternative scenarios for assaults against SPS elements. Random assaults could be expected either from dictators able to muster significant resources or from sociopathic individuals. A demagogic leader in a Third World country beset with international turmoil and international trade deficits could decide to enhance national prestige and regain popular support at home by putting a team of engineers and technicians to work building a sounding rocket capable of reaching the altitude of the LEO base and throwing up a cloud of nails directly in the path of the case, thus striking a blow for the "freedom of oppressed peoples everywhere" against the "neoimperialism" of the SPS owners and builders. Alternatively, individuals could telephone a bomb threat against a rectenna installation, claiming that the pilot beam transmitter facility would be demolished unless a large ransom were paid for information on the device. Given the growing technical sophistication of the general population in industrialized countries, terrorist groups in the next century could be expected to attempt assaults against rectennas, launch sites, launch vehicles, SPS communications facilities, SPS offices and laboratories, and factories manufacturing SPS components. Harassing SPS executives, workers, and their families could also be included in their tactics. Should any of the nations actively participating in a multilateral SPS program become involved in a brushfire war, SPS elements which it owns or operates could become targets for attack. While attacks might be carried out ostensibly by a
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