The Pentagon says it has to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite because of the threat of a toxic gas cloud. Space security experts are calling the rationale highly unlikely. 'Having the US government spend millions of dollars to destroy a billion-dollar failure to save zero lives is comedic gold,' one tells DANGER ROOM.

Yesterday, Deputy National Security Advisor James Jeffrey said the satellite's tank full of hydrazine rocket propellant was the main reason the military was planning to blast the orbiter. There's a small but real risk that the hydrazine tank could rupture, releasing a 'toxic gas' over a 'populated area,' causing a 'risk to human life.'

They go into some interesting theories, but I think that the largest concern is that they simply don't want this satellite to crashland someplace where an unallied government or other faction (for lack of a better term) will be able to recover and potentially see what the US is up to and capable (or even not capable) of from a technology point of view.