U.S. may have to respond
In his testimony, Gen. Cartwright questioned whether the Chinese space-arms program should lead the United States to develop similar weapons.
"We have the technical capability," he said. "My belief right now is knowing what we believe we know about this threat after the demonstrations that it is premature to start thinking about an arms race in space. ...We do not have to have a space response to that threat."
However, the four-star general said it would be "prudent" to improve the U.S. space-defense posture and improve surveillance and intelligence on space threats. Also, U.S. national security satellites should be hardened with "passive-type defenses," such as lens shutters or turn-off systems, he said.
Gen. Cartwright's comments yesterday contrast with his remarks in October, when he said reports China had fired a laser at a U.S. satellite in an apparent ASAT test were "uncertain." Gen. Cartwright, who is in charge of U.S. nuclear-warfighting forces, also suggested the United States might choose to use nuclear missiles to stop a country such as China from using missiles fired from hard-to-reach interior bases to destroy U.S. satellites.
"If there are many targets that are out of the reach of our bombers, conventional forces ... in large countries, the question would be, as an example, how many satellites would we be willing to lose before we went to a nuclear alternative, because the only thing we have to reach those targets is nuclear," he said.
El General James Cartwright, de los Cuerpos Marinos, le informó a la comisión de fuerzas estratégicas de los servicios armados del Senado que Estados Unidos usaría misiles nucleares contra China para prevenir la destrucción de sus satélites por ese país mediante las recientemente desarrolladas armas antisatelitales (ASAT).

"Si hay muchos blancos fuera del alcance de nuestros bombarderos, fuerzas convencionales … en países grandes, el asunto sería, por ejemplo, cuantos satélites estamos dispuestos a perder antes de usar la alternativa nuclear, porque la única forma de alcanzar esos objetivos es la nuclear", afirmó el general.

Cartwright recomendó que en el contexto de las armas espaciales chinas los Estados Unidos deberían desarrollar armas similares. El General Cartwright es el oficial a cargo de las '''Fuerzas de Combate Nuclear''' de los Estados Unidos.