This is John Batchel, a conversation with colleague, Henry Sikolsky, the Executive Director of the Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center.

Yes, about nukes, always about nukes, but Henry introduces here a new understanding of how to control the battlefield, how to overwhelm an opponent.

It has to do with communications and the presumption of links,

satellite links,

for surveillance, for communication,

for location,

for defense.

Henry Sikolsky on

withholding or advancing

satellite communications as a weapon. More of this tonight.

Giant in the background is can a nation that is being attacked get access to the imagery,

the secure communications, and the other forms of intelligence that are space-based to defend themselves and to do offensive operations as well.

And the United States has decided to withhold our government intelligence services and ordered Maxar to,

which is a commercial dual-use image satellite service company,

to stop doing business with Ukraine. And of course, Mr. Musk, if he hasn't already, certainly is threatened to unplug his system,

which is used for not only secure communications, but for located things.

This puts Ukraine in the terrible situation of not knowing how it's going to be attacked,

when it's going to be attacked, how to defend itself. This is separate from lacking

additional supplies of air defense systems, which the United States is the key

supplier of. So this is one game that's being played, but it isn't just that with Ukraine that we have

to watch. Apparently, there has been some discussion of pulling Canada out of an intelligence-sharing

group called The Five Eyes.

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