President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology.
The author argues that the western world's reliance on a "weak and dilapidated energy and communications network infrastructures" is a recipe for disaster.
Earth's first line of defense against massive communication failures is expected to go offline this week, raising the very real possibility that should a giant solar flare occur, the disruptions of media broadcasts as well as consumer and military communications dependent on satellites could rise sharply.
Hoping to prevent a "space Pearl Harbor," the United State's first squadron designed to protect military satellites is now working at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The 614th Space Intelligence Squadron is intended to defend communications, weather, navigation and missile-warning satellites from enemy attacks, both against ground stations and in space.
After years of acknowledging its Global Positioning System assets are vulnerable, the United States is moving to correct weaknesses in the system, which would be heavily relied upon by first responders in the advent of a weapons of mass destruction attack.
A study conducted by the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center outlines the problems that can occur from both deliberate and unintentional interference with the GPS signal.