The Senate passed the conference report on the FY2010 Department of Defense (DOD) authorization bill (H.R. 2647) today. The 68-29 vote came despite Republican objections to the inclusion of language expanding the definition of hate crimes, and a veto threat from the President. The bill authorizes $680 billion in defense spending.
The George C. Marshall Institute has created a compendium of National Security Council directives on the space program from 1955-2002. The two-volume set publishes the public versions of these statements and associated press releases and fact sheets where possible. The directives span civil and military space, international cooperation, and missile defense. While many are widely available already, others would be more difficult to find easily, especially those from the very early days of the Space Age such as:
The set is available for a modest sum by contacting the Marshall Institute at info@marshall.org.
Stewart Nozette, who is well known in Washington space policy circles, was arrested by the FBI and charged with attempted espionage by giving classified information to someone he believed was an Israeli agent according to the Department of Justice. Nozette is perhaps best known in the space community for his work on the 1994 NASA/DOD Clementine mission, though he has served in many capacities and was on the staff of the National Space Council during President George H.W. Bush’s Administration. His bio is available on the National Space Society’s website.
Congressional action on the authorization bills for the Department of Defense (H.R. 2647) and the Intelligence Community (H.R. 2701/S. 1494), and the DOD appropriations bill (H.R. 3326), has slowed for a number of reasons, but one is veto threats from the White House over certain provisions in the bills.
The White House is threatening to veto the intelligence authorization bill if it passes in final form as reported to the House from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The House has not yet voted on the bill. As reported, it contains language in Sec. 321 regarding who in Congress is to be notified of particularly sensitive intelligence activities. Currently only the “Gang of Four” – the top Democrat and Republican on HPSCI and its Senate counterpart (SPSCI) – or the “Gang of Eight” – those four plus the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House and the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate — is briefed on such matters (see Congressional Research Service report R40698 for an explanation of these terms and procedures). The disputed language would allow HPSCI and SPSCI to set their own rules as to who on those committees is briefed. The Senate passed its version of the bill in September. During Senate debate, it was noted that no intelligence authorization bill has cleared Congress in four years. The Senate-passed version would strengthen notification requirements, but apparently not enough to prompt a veto threat.
The White House is unhappy with the DOD authorization bill because conferees included funding to develop and procure an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter so there are two options for the engine. The White House is confident that the current engine program is adequate and sees no need for a second option. The Statement of Administration Policy on the Senate bill stated that if the final version of the bill included funds for an alternate engine, a veto would be recommended, but that did not sway the Senate or the conferees. The House passed the conference version of the bill on October 8; the Senate may consider it this week. DODBuzz.com characterized the veto threat as “wimpy.”
The DOD appropriations bill also is under a veto threat because the House version contains funding for the F-35 alternate engine and the VH-71 presidential helicopter program that the Administration similarly does not want. The veto threat was contained in an October 14, 2009 letter from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the chair and ranking minority member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. The letter is posted on DODBuzz.com. The House and Senate have passed their versions of the bill. The Senate version does not contain funds for either the F-35 alternate engine or the VH-71 helicopter. Conferees may meet this week.
Not sure about the difference between an authorization and an appropriation? See our “What’s a Markup?” fact sheet.
NASA will partner with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop a roadmap for the commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) industry, NASA announced Tuesday.
NASA and AFRL hope to plan ahead for the long-range needs of the budding commercial RLV industry by producing a technology roadmap with recommended government technology tasks, milestones for three different vehicle categories, as well as initial budget and resource estimates.
Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA, was quoted in the press release saying that the project follows “a natural evolutionary path from today’s emerging commercial suborbital RLV industry to growing and developing the capability to provide low-cost, frequent and reliable access to low Earth orbit.” Efforts to address the need of increased cost-effectiveness and reliability date back to the 1970s when reusability in launch systems was first advocated and the Space Shuttle program was being developed. In the 1990s, NASA partnered with Lockheed Martin on the X-33 program to build a commercial RLV called Venturestar, but without success.
The NASA press release also quoted Doug Comstock, director of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, who spoke of the wide ranging support that the RLV industry could provide to NASA activities in space and said the effort acknowledges “the great successes of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in stimulating the American commercial airplane industry nearly 100 years ago.” This NASA/AFRL study thus expands efforts towards increased reusability and ties in with NASA’s commitment to support the commercial space industry.
The roadmap study will begin at the Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange 2009, held in Dayton, Ohio from Oct. 26-29.
Project Ploughshares and the Secure World Foundation have released the 2009 edition of the Space Security Index.
“Among a roster of findings, Space Security 2009 finds that the number of actors with access to space, including dual_use applications __ those with potential civilian and military uses __ has continued to grow in the past year. By 2008, nine actors had demonstrated independent orbital launch capacity and 49 states had launched civil satellites, either independently or in collaboration with others.”
The House approved the conference report on the Department of Defense authorization bill (H.R. 2647) despite objections from Republicans. The controversy was not related to DOD space programs, but to language that was added expanding the federal definition of “hate crimes,” according to Congress Daily (subscription required). The vote was 281-146. The Senate now must consider the conference report. The hate crimes provision was added in the Senate version of the bill.
The conferees on the DOD authorization bill (H.R. 2647) agreed that the Department of Defense (DOD) should “develop a plan to acquire the capacity of at least one 1.5 meter aperture [Electro-Optical] satellite” to be delivered in 5 years. The plan is to be submitted to Congress along with the FY2011 budget request. The conferees also direct the Secretary of Defense to request that the White House Office of Science and Technology review the existing limitation on the resolution of imagery that commercial remote sensing data providers are allowed to sell commercially and report back to Congress by June 1, 2010. The full text of the report language (part of Title III) is as follows:
Commercial imagery augmentation.
The budget request included classified amounts in Operations and Maintenance, Defense-wide, in the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency budget to begin acquiring the equivalent capacity of two additional 1.1-meter electro-optical (EO) imaging satellites.
The House bill would authorize the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement the initiative as requested.
The Senate amendment would direct DOD to acquire the capacity of one 1.5-meter EO satellite in lieu of one of the two proposed 1.1-meter satellite equivalents ‘on a schedule keyed to the risks identified” by the Secretary of Defense in congressional testimony.
The conferees agree that DOD should consider obtaining the capabilities of 1.5-meter aperture EO satellites for multiple reasons: to hedge against the risk of gaps in national intelligence collection capabilities; to determine how well 1.5- meter EO satellites can meet imagery collection requirements; to better support combatant commander requirements for point-target and area imagery; and to ensure that U.S. industry retains world leadership in commercial remote sensing.
The conferees agree that the DOD should plan to acquire the capacity of one or more 1.5-meter satellites by the middle of the coming decade, consistent with the administration’s plans for replenishment in the mid-decade timeframe, and with the estimates of the time needed to develop and construct 1.5-meter aperture satellites.
The conferees understand that fulfilling this plan would require that the fiscal year 2011 budget request include funding to begin the process of acquiring the capacity of a 1.5-meter aperture satellite. The conferees expect that it will take at least 60 months to deliver a 1.5-meter EO satellite (1 year of non-recurring development and 4 years to build the satellite).
The conferees direct the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to acquire the capacity of at least one 1.5-meter aperture EO satellite on the schedule outlined above and provide this plan to the congressional defense and intelligence committees when the fiscal year 2011 budget request is submitted.
The conferees also agree on the need to review the existing limitation on the resolution of the imagery that the space commercial data providers (CDP) are allowed to sell commercially. The conferees agree that controls remain necessary on what targets the CDPs can image for commercial sale, but are skeptical that the current limit on resolution makes sense. The conferees direct that the Secretary of Defense request that the Office of Science and Technology Policy undertake an interagency review of current regulatory policy. The conferees further request that the administration provide the results of this review to the congressional intelligence and defense committees by June 1, 2010.
The conference version of the DOD authorization bill (H.R. 2647, sec. 913) directs the President to “develop a strategy for the management and funding” of NPOESS by DOD, NOAA and NASA. It requires that the strategy include program requirements, a management structure, and a funding profile for each of the three agencies’ participation in the program. Until the President submits the plan, DOD is not permitted to obligate or spend 50% of the FY2010 funding provided for NPOESS in the bill. The President also must submit an implementation plan for the strategy, and DOD is not permitted to obligate or spend another 25% until that is submitted.
The conferees provided the requested $396.6 million for the program, but not the additional $80 million that the Senate had recommended.
In report language accompanying the bill, the conferees say that they are “deeply concerned” about NPOESS, and offer mild criticism of how the White House is handling the issue: “Although the approach to resolving the NPOESS issues adopted by the Executive Office of the President will take longer than the conferees would like to see, the conferees acknowledge that there are many issues to be resolved.” They also “express their strongly held view that this program has suffered greatly from the past management approach” and that once a new approach is determined, everyone should “stick with the plan.”