(2015-0369-F) Presidential Decision Directive, National Science and Technology Council 6 (PDD/NSTC-6)

The materials in FOIA 2015-0369-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related material. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request 2015-0369-F was for records of the National Security Council from April 1995 to April 1996 related to Presidential Decision Directive, National Science and Technology Council 6 (PDD/NSTC-6). This collection includes memos, drafts, and emails related to the drafting of PDD/NSTC-6. It includes briefing papers, reports, and presentations related to GPS, Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), and Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Much of the conversation focuses on Selective Availability (SA). Due to the fact that Staff and Office files are processed at the folder level, the collection dates from 1987 to 2000. Knowing where you are located on the earth is the entire point of navigation. Once you’ve established your location you can plot your course. Global Positioning System, or GPS, allows a person to know within one to three meters where they are located on the earth. The system of thirty-one satellites, combined with ground antenna and relay stations, provides real-time, accurate information to both military and civilian customers. The foundation of GPS was a series of radio navigation aids. Long Range Aid to Navigation, or LORAN, allowed navigators to pick up and triangulate radio signals when out of view of the shore. Satellites first played a role in the United States Navy’s navigation system called Transit. Transit used the known orbit of satellites to calculate locations. Transit was first made available to civilian users in 1967. Transit served as a proof of concept and the Department of Defense began actively planning and designing a satellite based, all weather, continuously available, highly accurate navigation system in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Navy, Army, and Air Force each had their own systems in development. In April 1973, the Department of Defense named the Air Force as the lead with a Joint Production Office (JPO) for development of the NAVSTAR system. Through the middle-to-late 1970s the military combined the parts of the Navy, Army, and Air Force systems and added additional functions to the satellite system. JPO planned for a 24 satellite system on a 12 hour cycle. GPS was being built as a military system with limited civilian use. Then the Russians shot down Korean Airlines flight 007 and President Reagan announced that GPS would be available for free to all civilian aircraft when the system became operational. GPS was now a dual use technology. At the beginning of the Clinton Administration the GPS system was very close to operational. In December 1993, the Department of Defense declared the system fully operational with twenty-four satellites in orbit. The system was capable of 100 meter accuracy, all weather operation, and continuous availability. In June 1994, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator David Hinson announced that the FAA was going to implement Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS). This system would dramatically improve the accuracy of the GPS system for civilian users. Improved accuracy and greater civilian availability caused great concern for the Department of Defense. However, GPS was quickly becoming a significant commercial industry. In 1992, the Japanese were installing 35,000 GPS receivers a month in automobiles. The commercial market for Japanese GPS products was estimated at $240 million. In the United States it was estimated to be $480 million with potential to grow to a $60 billion dollar industry by 2000. This dichotomy of dual use needed to be reconciled. In Presidential Review Directive / National Science and Technology Council 2 of May 15, 1995, Clinton asked the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to review American space policy. In conjunction, under PRD/NSTC-3 on June 2, 1995, Clinton ordered a review of GPS system policy. Presidential Decision Directive, NSTC-6 was released March 28, 1996. It set forth the U.S. policy specifically related to GPS. It guaranteed continued civilian access to GPS and declared that Selective Availability (SA)—a part of GPS that reduced civilian accuracy—would be turned off in ten years. PDD/NSTC-6 set policy, guidelines, and agency roles and responsibilities. It required annual reports to congress beginning in 2000 on the use of SA. PDD/NSTC-6 was superseded by U.S. Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Policy in December 2004.