LF: GPS

To:	[email protected]
Subject:	LF: GPS
From:	"Walter Blanchard" <[email protected]>
Date:	Thu, 04 May 2000 22:02:55 +0100
Reply-to:	[email protected]
Sender:	<[email protected]>

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."

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