For years, both the Executive and Congress have expressed concerns over PNT vulnerabilities and clamored for solutions. Yet little has changed. Three important reports emerged at the tail end of the old regime. As new leadership takes the helm, in which direction will it take the PNT enterprise?
As far back as 1996, when Executive Order (EO) 13010 stood up The President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, folks started taking notice that exclusive reliance on GPS for U.S. transportation creates undue risk.
Two years later, Presidential Decision Directive 63 ordered the Department of Transportation (DOT), in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DOD), to evaluate GPS in relation to national transportation and civilian systems. (Note: It was not until late 2004, in National Security Presidential Directive (PD) 39, that the mantle was officially handed to DOT for GPS policy. PD 39 also made DOT co-chair with DOD of the National Space Based Positioning, Naviga
POLITICO
How Joe Biden can galvanize space diplomacy
Nascent efforts to establish international norms for behavior offer an major opportunity to reduce the chances of a conflict.
President-elect Joe Biden. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By STEPHEN FLANAGAN and BRUCE MCCLINTOCK
01/15/2021 06:45 AM EST
Link Copied
The potential for future conflicts to originate in outer space, or for terrestrial conflicts to extend there, has grown as various governments are developing an array of counterspace weapons. The explosion of commercial space activity has also raised the risk of damaging incidents in space.
These developments have renewed interest in the role that international norms of responsible behavior could play in enhancing safety and security in the space domain.
Print this article
The U.S. Space Force became a member of the U.S. intelligence community on Friday, meaning that the intelligence element of the newest branch of the U.S. military is also the country’s 18th spy agency.
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond announced that the section of the Space Force specializing in intelligence would join the spy community during an afternoon ceremony.
“This accession reaffirms our commitment to securing outer space as a safe and free domain for America’s interests,” Ratcliffe said. “American power in space is stronger and more unified than ever before. Today we welcome Space Force to the Intelligence Community and look forward to the power and ingenuity of a space security team unrivaled by any nation.”