President, Congress Abandon National Infrastructure

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President, Congress Abandon National Infrastructure
http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/news/president-congress-abandon-natio=
nal-infrastructure-9123?print=3D1
November 10, 2009
By: Alan Cameron

Teams in the National Football League have backups. The United States gov=
ernment,=20
military, financial network, wireless communication, and transportation i=
nfrastructures do=20
not. Having ridden to election in part on the back of the previous admini=
stration=E2=80=99s lack=20
of readiness for and response to natural disaster, the Obama administrati=
on and Democratic=20
Congress seem willing, if not eager, to commit the same egregious errors =
of their own.

The following story constitutes an editorial opinion, based on current fa=
cts, by GPS World=20
editor Alan Cameron. Response mechanism included.

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Transportation=E2=80=99s Volpe Report cle=
arly indicated the=20
vulnerability of GPS to interference, both intentional and unintentional,=
as well as=20
disruption due to natural atmospheric factors. It also delineated the con=
sequent=20
vulnerability of critical national infrastructure of several kinds, which=
depend upon GPS=20
for highly precise timing, as well as position and navigation. Since that=
date, not a=20
single administration finger, red or blue, has lifted in proactive respon=
se. Minimal=20
hand-waving has occurred. Now the executive fist, seeking to wring some d=
rop of financial=20
savings from some obscure program somewhere, has clamped on Loran, the so=
le practical=20
back-up to GPS, and throttled the life out of it.

This in blithe ignorance of the government=E2=80=99s own commissioned Ind=
ependent Assessment Team,=20
which found that =E2=80=9Cthe cost of deploying eLoran technology [an upd=
ated improvement on=20
Loran] would be about $100 million, which is about the same cost as disma=
ntling the=20
current Loran infrastructure.=E2=80=9D The philosophy, if Congress and go=
vernment are even aware=20
of the thought underpinnings of their actions, seems to be =E2=80=9CYou=E2=
=80=99ve got to spend money to=20
save some,=E2=80=9D bearing an eerie resemblance to a previous era=E2=80=99=
s operational dictum, =E2=80=9CIn order=20
to save the village, we had to destroy it.=E2=80=9D It further portends i=
ll for the overall=20
national infrastructure that the President has claimed he intends to rest=
ore, strengthen,=20
and solidify.

On October 28, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that effecti=
vely terminates=20
the struggle to mount back-up system for GPS: Loran-C and eLoran, a syste=
m that could=20
prevent national and industrial infrastructure breakdown in the event of =
various probable=20
disruptions, interference, or intentional jamming.



The President signed the Department of Homeland Defense (DHS) appropriati=
ons bill that=20
allows termination of Loran-C in Jan 2010. The U.S. House of Representati=
ves also passed a=20
revised version of its Coast Guard authorization bill, replacing the mand=
ate to convert=20
Loran-C into eLoran with a call for its termination, in line with the DHS=
appropriations=20
bill. Further details are available at the PNT website.



The Coast Guard Commandant and DHS are expected to sign off almost immedi=
ately that=20
Loran-C can be terminated. Once they sign it, Loran signals could go off =
the air as soon=20
as January 4, 2010.



In his first budget, President Obama stated that Loran-C was obsolete, an=
d that obsolete=20
systems would be eliminated. The administration and Democrat-led Congress=
continue to=20
assert, in the face of expert testimony and evidence to the contrary, tha=
t Loran-C is the=20
poster child of obsolete systems, and must be killed. The politicians app=
ear immune to any=20
notion that GPS is vulnerable to a range of disruptions, and that the nat=
ional timing,=20
communications, and financial infrastructures that depend on GPS are lik=
ewise open both=20
to intentional attack and to natural interference.

The attached PDF reproduces in its entirety a letter to Secretary of Home=
land Defense=20
Janet Napolitano from Senators Joseph Lieberman (chair, Senate Committee =
on Homeland=20
Security and Governmental Affairs) and Senator Susan Collins, ranking mem=
ber of same=20
committee. The following paragraphs briefly excerpt key portions of the l=
etter.

=E2=80=9CIt is vital that you have the input of critical infrastructure u=
sers of GPS before=20
deciding on this certification [that Loran-C is not needed as a back-up t=
o GPS], and the=20
Department=E2=80=99s survey of these users has not been completed.=E2=80=9D=


=E2=80=9CIn January 2009, an Independent Assessment Team, commissioned jo=
intly by DHA and DoT,=20
released a report that unanimously concluded that eLoran should serve as =
the national=20
back-up for GPS and that the Loran-C infrastructure should be maintained =
until full eLoran=20
deployment.=E2=80=9D

[Editor=E2=80=99s note: The IAT report was actually completed in 2007, bu=
t withheld from public=20
release by the U.S. government for two years, until various filings force=
d it into the open.]

=E2=80=9CAside from signal interference an limitations related to depleti=
on of the GPS=20
constellation, there is also the danger of intentional actions to destroy=
,or jam the=20
signal of, GPS satellites.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CDHS officials committed during their confirmation hearings that =
the Department would=20
provide [its survey of all 18 critical infrastructure sectors to determin=
e whether a=20
backup to GPS is needed] by July 30, 2009. Three months after its due dat=
e, that survey=20
has not been completed. Any decision to certify the decommissioning of Lo=
ran=20
infrastructure should be delayed until this report is provided to and rev=
iewed by Congress.=E2=80=9D

If you agree with any of the opinions presented here or in the attached P=
DF letter from=20
U.S. Senators, feel free to print it out and forward it, above your own s=
ignature, to your=20
respective Congresspeople, to DHS Secretary Napolitano, and to the White =
House.

Secretary Janet Napolitano
Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Washington, DC 20528
Comment Line: 202-282-8495

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111

An e-mail form is also available.

Should you disagree with any of the above, feel free to e-mail GPS World=E2=
=80=99s editor.=20
Correspondence may be considered for publishing as a letter to the editor=
for an upcoming=20
issue of the magazine, but will not be printed without your express writt=
en permission.

For additional perspective on this issue, see related articles below. Als=
o, watch for Don=20
Jewell's November Defense PNT editorial, coming tomorrow.

Related Links :
Loran Letter to Secretary Napolitano

Administration Ax Falls on PNT Backup, Loran-C

Innovation: GPS + LORAN-C

LORAN Gets a Witness

The Perils of LORAN: an Endangered Life

Coast Guard Directed to Maintain and Upgrade Loran

Loran Study Finally Unleashed: Says Keep It, Best Option

Independent Assessment Team (IAT) Summary of Initial Findings on eLoran

Senate Committees Support eLoran

Europe's General Lighthouse Authorities Praise LORAN Decision

LORAN Saved, but Money Questions Remain

LORAN Rescued

Expert Advice - eLoran, Superhero Sidekick!

Expert Advice - Why We Need eLoran

Loran on Trial

LORAN Lives to Another Day

Expert Advice - The Case for eLORAN

wrote (with clarity & insight):

and DoT,
national
full eLoran

So, if we "save" LORAN, who's still equipped to use it? Maybe a few
remote/isolated telecom companies still have MRFRs but it'd be
surprising. Do aircraft still have any of that stuff? Ships?

Would future PNDs be able to use eLORAN seamlessly?

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m/gnss-system/news/president-congress-abandon-n...
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Supposedly, despite the technical arguments for its retention
that have been presented, Commandant US Coast Guard
has already declared LORAN is not essential to navigation.

I'm a sailor and know lots of other boaters. Nobody I know
is equipped for LORAN. I have an old LORAN receiver that
still works, but I don't keep it aboard. Despite comments
from paranoid naysayers about GPS reliability/availability,
I don't worry about the Chinese anti-satellite operations or
jamming. The satellites have never let me down.

I note 15 feet GPS accuracy on the water. LORAN
provides about 0.1 miles. Arguably, eLORAN works
better, but due to a stagnate LORAN-C user base that
system is unfortunately 'still born' .

It's not a true backup to GPS. It doesn't provide worldwide
24/7 coverage.

Proponents tend to be legacy users of the fishing fleet
and a few private pilots who haven't changed over to
GPS.

--- CHAS

wrote:


Are the Loran transmitting stations still being used to transmit DGPS
corrections to those beacon receivers?

Will they be in future?

DGPS operates its own network of reference stations and transmitters.

After the LORAN shutdown during January, the government will
liquidate
all associated assets. An environmental impact study for system wide
termination is posted on the Coast Guard Navigation Center web site.

--- CHAS