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Clinton Statement on Global Positioning System Accuracy U.S. Newswire 1 May 12:22
To: National Desk Contact: White House Press Office, 202-456-2100
WASHINGTON, May 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by the White House:

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 incorporati ng 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.

U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 05/01 12:22 Copyright 2000, U.S. Newswire

WASHINGTON (AP)--Global positioning devices used to steer cars, fly planes or find missing skiers and hikers will be given pinpoint accuracy previously available only to the military under an order President Clinton signed Monday.

Until now, civilians using a U.S.-built network of satellites for navigation got a less accurate reading than the military out of fear that potential enemies could use the system to target missiles.

Under the order, which took effect at 8 p.m. EDT Monday (midnight GMT), the United States no longer will jam the signal for civilian users, but can still selectively block the improved Global Positioning System over any given region at will, administration officials said.

The military will still use an encrypted, highly accurate version of the system for guiding precision weaponry such as the missiles used in the Persian Gulf War and last year's Balkan air strikes.

``Police, firemen, emergency crews will now be able to respond more accurately to exactly where help is needed,'' said Neal Lane, the White House science adviser.

The change will make satellite navigation devices people already own 10 times more accurate, Lane said, and will not require the purchase of new machines.

The difference will mean satellite navigation can be used to track a missing person to an area about the size of a tennis court. Until now, the area of intense search would have been more like a football field.

That level of imprecision was problematic in emergencies and when trying to pinpoint such things as a stranded motorist's exact location. With the less accurate system, a reading for the motorist might include both sides of a busy highway or even several different roads.

The system, known as GPS, is used by more than 4 million people worldwide for everything from navigating in traffic to oil exploration. Boaters and hikers use handheld GPS devices, and similar equipment is now installed in wristwatches and in the dashboards of some cars.

The market for GPS users is expected to double in the next three years to more than $16 billion annually, the White House said.

The system of two dozen U.S. satellites is free, but all kinds of businesses profit from it. Commercial interests have long asked the government to loosen its hold on the most accurate GPS information, but officials said outside pressure was not a factor in the decision.

The decision follows four years of discussion among the White House, Pentagon, CIA and other agencies, and the development of new technology that allows the U.S. to block certain regions while offering the improved service everywhere else.

Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur Money said the new service will be available universally at first, and would only be denied in response to a perceived threat.

John Pike, space policy analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington think tank, said the United States will benefit from the continued global use of its system and the control that accrues to the U.S. military as a result. Offering the better U.S. system for free takes away some incentive for another country or consortium to build a competing system, Pike said.

Ensuring that the U.S. is the only country with such a system and making travel safer outweighs the problem of having to jam the signal to prevent the bad guys from using it to target cruise missiles,'' he said.