CNAS Report Calls Declining Satellite Capabilities National Security Concern

According to the newly released CNAS report, Blinded: The Decline of U.S. Earth Monitoring
Capabilities and Its Consequences for National Security,
"By 2016, only seven of NASA’s current 13 earth monitoring satellites are
expected to be operational, leaving a crucial information gap that will hinder
national security planning."

The United States depends on satellite systems for
managing the unconventional challenges of the 21st century in ways that are
rarely acknowledged. This is particularly true for satellites that monitor
climate change and other environmental trends, which, in the words of the
Department of Defense’s (DOD's) 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, “will shape
the operating environment, roles, and missions” of DOD. According to Christine
Parthemore and Will Rogers, authors of the newly released CNAS report, Blinded: The Decline of U.S. Earth Monitoring
Capabilities and Its Consequences for National Security,
"By 2016, only seven of NASA’s current 13 earth monitoring satellites are
expected to be operational, leaving a crucial information gap that will hinder
national security planning."



Download Blinded: The Decline of U.S. Earth Monitoring
Capabilities and Its Consequences for National Security.



Parthemore and Rogers write, "Losing satellite-based earth monitoring
capabilities will affect U.S. national security." The Department of
Defense relies on earth monitoring satellites for up-to-date weather conditions
and forecasting. The U.S. Agency for International Development requires remote
sensing technologies to efficiently allocate U.S. food assistance and to
provide data for its Famine Early Warning System. The State Department
addresses environment-focused foreign policy priorities such as Arctic issues, climate
change, ocean policy and resource scarcity using earth monitoring
systems.  



The authors acknowledge that while the U.S. government should replace the earth
monitoring systems now in decline, the current political and fiscal
environments make it less likely for Congress to appropriate funds to do so.
Given this reality, Parthemore and Rogers recommend that policymakers should
use existing systems more efficiently, improve information sharing among
interagency partners and leverage international partners' investments in their
own systems in order to boost U.S. climate and environmental data collection
capabilities. 



Stay up-to-date with the CNAS
Natural Security blog, which covers these issues daily.  Follow the
authors and CNAS on Twitter: @clparthemore, @wmrogers and @CNASdc.