FC: Americans now know where they are: Clinton turns on civilian GPS

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*******

Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 17:05:14 -0800
To: farber () cis upenn edu (Dave Farber), freematt () coil com (Matthew Gaylor),
Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
Subject: fwd (about damn time!): GPS Selective Availability

>May 1, 2000
>
>STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT REGARDING THE UNITED STATES DECISION TO STOP
>DEGRADING GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM ACCURACY
>
>                              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 GPS
>to: 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 on-going effort
>to 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 on-track 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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