re: Your analogy to the flight trajectory of an ICBM is very significant
"Nobody wants large numbers of craft scattered around the globe, each capable of rapidly delivering a 1-tonne package to any city or location chosen at whim. They would be far more dangerous than commandeered civil airliners."
That is right Nick.
And that is large part of why we don't have cheap access to space.
But if you have anti-ballistic missile defense, then perhaps instead of being far more dangerous, it simply become more dangerous or as dangerous.