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| Bush Prepares for Possible GPS Shutdown |
| 2004-12-16 |
| President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday. "Shut down" as in turn off, or as in "kick into mil-only mode"? Any shutdown of the network inside the United States would come under only the most remarkable circumstances, said a Bush administration official who spoke to a small group of reporters at the White House on condition of anonymity. "Psssst!..." The GPS system is vital to commercial aviation and marine shipping. Sorry about that, you guys do remember your dead-reckoning, right? The president also instructed the Defense Department to develop plans to disable, in certain areas, an enemy's access to the U.S. navigational satellites and to similar systems operated by others. The European Union is developing a $4.8 billion program, called Galileo. Euro-Jammers on "Full", Scotty! The military increasingly uses GPS technology to move troops across large areas and direct bombs and missiles. Any government-ordered shutdown or jamming of the GPS satellites would be done in ways to limit disruptions to navigation and related systems outside the affected area, the White House said. We'll give the new key to the encrypted time signal to the Army, Navy and Air Force, don't worry... ``This is not something you would do lightly,'' said James A. Lewis, director of technology policy for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. ``It's clearly a big deal. You have to give them credit for being so open about what they're going to do.'' President Clinton abandoned the practice in May 2000 of deliberately degrading the accuracy of civilian navigation signals, a technique known as ``selective availability.'' or as "We built it, not you" The White House said it will not reinstate that practice, but said the president could decide to disable parts of the network for national security purposes. |
| Posted by:mojo |
| #7 Methinks, "Toes Up", i.e. dead, lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-16 11:36:26 PM |
| #6 a question: What's "Tango Uniform?" I presume it's T U something, but what? Somebody please translate? |
| Posted by: mom 2004-12-16 11:33:19 PM |
| #5 When I'm flying my plane cross country, I always plot my course on the map every 15 minutes, in case the GPS winks out. It did, once, over a cloud deck. The antenna went bad. No problem. Dead reckoned a course and did pilotage on the way home. Assume your box of miracles will go tango Uniform and plan for it, and you will live to a ripe, olde age, heh heh. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-12-16 10:17:28 PM |
| #4 My last unit had an LT that managed to get lost with a plugger. Listening to him try(unsucessfully!) to read off his grid to the BN TOC is one of the funnier memories I'll keep to my last day. Of course, as the Signal Guy, I had to eventualy go out and find him. and give him a remedial class in Plugger and map using. The next day he got lost again. Its a good thing none of us were combat arms, and did not have ammo. |
| Posted by: N Guard 2004-12-16 4:41:33 PM |
| #3 The lieutenant finders won't work if they jam or disable GPS. :o) |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-12-16 12:28:49 PM |
| #2 Hate to have this happen while backpacking at Yellowstone or something. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-12-16 12:27:02 PM |
| #1 Argh--how'd I miss this post half an hour earlier? Must have needed to refresh my browser. |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-12-16 12:08:00 PM |