Chinese President Hu Jintao in Moscow on March 27. Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin

The ASAT test was a shock to senior Bush administration officials who questioned the test's purpose, the sources aid.

“It is clear to most that the ASAT test was a deliberate signal to the United States that China intends to confront the United States on its own turf when the time comes,” one source said.

However, the program had secretly been under U.S. surveillance for months and it was known who in the Chinese leadership was involved.

Stephen Hadley, White House national security adviser, and NSC China specialist Dennis Wilder put that word out to reporters after the test was disclosed by Aviation Week Jan. 17.

However, U.S. intelligence agencies learned a few weeks later that Hu personally ordered the ASAT test, as well as two previous attempts.