Global Positioning System Selective Availability

Since World War II, the United States has yielded many of its policy decisions to the desires of the United States military. These policy decisions reach from nylon and aluminum restrictions for the war efforts of World War II through the tough military build-up policies of the 1980s amidst fiscal constraints. In the aftermath of the conflict in Vietnam, President Ronald Reagan was determined to regain America's influence in the world by rebuilding the military and strengthening the economy. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down as the prelude to the fall of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain of communism. Without the apparent threat of war with the Soviet Union, the United States began to focus more on maintaining an economic and political leadership role around the world. No longer did the United States military hold a firm grip on the rudder of national policy. Instead, a balance between the amount of military power required to remain relevant in the world and economic and political influence was sought. One of the tools provided by the military to the civilian community is the Global Positioning System (GPS). This system, originally designed for the United States military, was released for public use in a degraded form after the tragic downing of a Korean airliner by Soviet fighter aircraft after the airliner unknowingly strayed into Soviet airspace in 1983. The GPS system's full accuracy capability was not released to the public out of fear by the Department of Defense (DOD) that potential adversaries might use the system for inertial guidance of smart munitions against the U.S. Currently, there is a controversy over the possibility of expanded access to the highly accurate GPS signals heretofore available only to authorized DOD users. The decision to grant full access to the precision signal will be made by the President of the United States after weighing all of the factors which impact on the full release of this system for unrestricted civilian us

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.