FC: Americans now know where they are: Clinton turns on civilian GPS
Woohoo!
----- Forwarded message from Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> -----
Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 08:29:25 -0400
To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: FC: Americans now know where they are: Clinton turns on civilian
GPS
Reply-To: 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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