History of GPS – Part III
GPS Policy in the New Millennium
With GPS expanding at such a rapid pace, the approach to the burgeoning technology continued to be revised. The latest update was on December 2004, when President George W. Bush issued the U.S. Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Policy, which superseded the 1996 directives. The primary challenge was maintaining a balance between encouraging the development of GPS applications and capability to meet growing international demand and being wary of foreign competition or, even worse, access by hostile adversaries.
“The continuing growth of services based on the Global Positioning System presents opportunities, risks, and threats to U.S. national, homeland, and economic security. The widespread and growing dependence on the Global Positioning System of military, civil, and commercial systems and infrastructures has made many of these systems inherently vulnerable to an unexpected interruption in positioning, navigation, and/or timing services,” the policy states. “In addition, whether designed for military capabilities or not, all positioning, navigation, and timing signals from space and their augmentations provide inherent capabilities that can be used by adversaries, including enemy military forces and terrorist groups. Finally, emerging foreign space-based positioning, navigation, and timing services could enhance or undermine the future utility of the Global Positioning System.”
The new policy continued the U.S. stance on providing continuous, worldwide access free of charge for civil, commercial and scientific use. However, there was a new emphasis on homeland security with a goal to improve capabilities to deny hostile use of the GPS services. The policy also threw support behind foreign development that would be interoperable with existing technology and work to the benefit of the U.S. and worldwide users.
In addition, several new players became critically involved in GPS administration. Participation from the Department of Homeland Security and Central Intelligence Agency reflected an increasing emphasis on GPS in national security and emergency response. The Department of Commerce was brought in to represent U.S. commercial interests, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was involved to augment support civil space systems. Each of these agencies are represented in the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing National Executive Committee, which continues to guide, advise and coordinate decisions based on U.S. national policy.
Today, the sheer quantity of GPS applications is staggering. Check back soon to learn just a few of the versatile ways that GPS is being used today.
Tags: GPS, History of GPS, National Policy of GPS
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