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U.S. National Security Space Policy Other Related George W. Bush Administration Policies Affecting Military Space
BRIEF INTRODUCTION
The 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act specified that U.S. military space activities would be conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD), while creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to conduct the nation's civil space program.
Today, the term "national security space" is often used to encompass the space activities of the intelligence community as well as DOD. National security space programs include launch vehicles and satellite systems for reconnaissance, early warning of missile launches and nuclear detonations, navigation, communications, and weather. Many of these systems have counterparts in the civil and commercial sectors; the line between national security and civil space systems can be quite blurry. For example, the Global Positioning System (GPS) of navigation satellites is a DOD system, but it enables pervasive civil and commercial applications from precision farming to cell phones to automobile navigation systems.
Although NASA conducts a much more visible space program, DOD's space program is larger. There is no easy way to track national security space funding since "space" is not a specific item in DOD's budget. A portion of these activities are classified ("black") programs for which budgetary information is not available on an unclassified basis. The rest of the funding is for unclassified ("white") programs, but is spread throughout the DOD budget in research and development (R&D), operations and management (O&M), and procurement accounts for the three services and defense-wide activities. The majority of funding is in the Air Force accounts, but is difficult to identify except for major programs. According to the fiscal year (FY) 2008 edition of the annual Aeronautics and Space Report of the President (the most recent available), DOD's FY2007 space budget was $24.8 billion, which is thought to represent all spending (classified and unclassified) for national security space activities. By comparison, NASA's total FY2008 budget was $17.1 billion (including about $620 million for aeronautics).
DOD's unclassified space systems include the following programs, some of which are operational and others still in development or earlier phases:
DOD also has programs that address the needs for space situational awareness, space control, and operationally responsive space.
U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY SPACE POLICY
U.S. space policy, including national security space policy, was most recently enunciated by President Barack Obama in his National Space Policy, released on June 28, 2010. The Obama policy supersedes the policy issued in 2006 by President George W. Bush. • NSSS Unclassified Fact Sheet OTHER RELATED GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION POLICIES AFFECTING MILITARY SPACE
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