Statement
By President Clinton To Upgrade GPS Signals For Civilian Use
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Today
(May 1), 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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