My colleague Bob Brewin notes that President Obama has let up on the government's long held belief that America controls outer space in signing a new national space policy that contemplates relying on non-U.S. satellite navigation for backup and support.
The plan also imagines extraterrestrial observation as a way of advancing the White House's open government initiative, which centers on information disclosure and public-private collaboration throughout all levels of government, including overseas.
Some of the transparency-related items in the policy:
Departments and agencies, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall "promote the adoption of policies internationally that facilitate full, open and timely access to government environmental data."Non-security areas for potential collaboration with foreign governments include earth science and observation; environmental monitoring; geospatial information products and services; search and rescue; use of space for maritime domain awareness; and long-term preservation of the space environment for human activity and use.
Aliya Sternstein
Aliya Sternstein reports on cybersecurity and homeland security systems for Nextgov. She has covered technology for nine years at such publications as National Journal's TechnologyDaily, Federal Computer Week and Forbes. Before joining Government Executive, she covered agriculture and derivatives trading for Congressional Quarterly. She has been a guest commentator on C-SPAN, WTOP and Federal News Radio. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
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