LF: GPS

["Walter Blanchard" <blanch@pncl.co.uk>]

For those interested, here's the official statement on GPS : 

Quote:                   
 THE WHITE HOUSE
                      
Office of the Press Secretary
 _____________________________________________________
For Immediate
Release                       
May 1, 2000

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT REGARDING THE UNITED STATES' 
DECISION TO STOP DEGRADING  GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM 
ACCURACY

Today, I am pleased to announce that the United States will stop 
the
intentional degradation of the Global Positioning System (GPS)
signals
available to the public beginning at midnight tonight.  We call
this
degradation feature Selective Availability (SA). This will mean 
that
civilian users of GPS will be able to pinpoint locations up to ten
times
more accurately than they do now.  GPS is a dual use, satellite
based system 
that provides accurate location and timing data to users worldwide.My
March 1996 Presidential Decision Directive included in the goals for
GPSto: 
"encourage acceptance and integration of GPS into peaceful civil,
commercial 
and scientific applications worldwide; and to encourage private sector
investment in and use of U.S. GPS technologies and services." 
To meet these 
goals, I committed the U.S. to discontinuing the use of SA by 2006 with
an 
annual assessment of its continued use beginning this year.The decision
to 
discontinue SA is the latest measure in an ongoing effortto make GPS more
responsive to civil and commercial users worldwide.  Last year, Vice
President 
Gore announced our plans to modernize GPS by adding two new civilian
signals 
to enhance the civil and commercial service.  This initiative is
ontrack and the 
budget further advances modernization by incorporating some of the new
features on up to 18 additional satellites that are already awaiting
launch or are 
in production.  We will continue to provide all of these
capabilities to worldwide 
users free of charge. My decision to discontinue SA was based upon a
recommendation by the Secretary of Defense in coordination with the
Departments 
of State,Transportation, Commerce, the Director of Central Intelligence,
and other
Executive Branch Departments and Agencies.  They realized that
worldwide 
transportation safety, scientific, and commercial interests could best be
served by 
discontinuation of SA.  Along with our commitment to enhance GPS for
peaceful 
applications, my administration is committed to preserving fully the
military utility of GPS.  
The decision to discontinue SA is coupled with our continuing efforts to
upgrade 
the military utility of our systems that use GPS, and is supported by
threat assessments
which conclude that setting SA to zero at this time would have minimal
impact on 
national security.  Additionally, we have demonstrated the
capability to selectively deny 
GPS signals on a regional basis when our national security is
threatened.  
This regional approach to denying navigation services is consistent with
the 1996 plan 
to discontinue the degradation of civil and commercial GPS service
globally through 
the SA technique. Originally developed by the Department of Defense as a
military 
system, GPS has become a global utility.  It benefits users around
the world in 
many different applications, including air, road, marine, and rail
navigation,
telecommunications, emergency response, oil exploration, mining, and many
more.  
Civilian users will realize a dramatic improvement in GPS accuracy with
the discontinuation 
of SA.  For example, emergency teams responding to a cry for help
can now determine 
what side of the highway they must respond to, thereby saving precious
minutes.  
This increase in accuracy will allow new GPS applications to emerge and
continue to 
enhance the lives of people around the world."