Congressional Hearing Testimony 

for the 

Under Secretary of the Air Force 

The Honorable Peter B. Teets

Introduction

It is my distinct honor to appear before the Committee today representing the 

world’s finest air and space force, and to be joined by the service leads of our National 

Security Space activities: General Lance Lord, Commander of Air Force Space 

Command; Lieutenant General Larry Dodgen, Commanding General, Army Space and 

Missile Defense Command; Rear Admiral Rand Fisher, Director Naval Space 

Technology Programs, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; and Brigadier 

General John Thomas, Director, Command, Control, Communications and Computers for 

the U.S. Marine Corps. Our appearance here, together, underscores the importance of 

jointness in our National Security Space endeavors. 

Given the role of this Committee, and my role in overseeing National Security

Space activities as Under Secretary of the Air Force, Director of the National 

Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the DoD Executive Agent for Space, I will 

concentrate my remarks today on the five priorities I have set for our National Security

Space efforts for 2004. They are: (1) achieving mission success in operations and 

acquisition, (2) developing and maintaining a team of space professionals, (3) integrating

space capabilities for national intelligence and warfighting, (4) producing innovative 

solutions for the most challenging national security problems, and (5) ensuring freedom 

of action in space. These priorities are my focus for this year and are supported in the 

FY05 budget for our DoD and NRO space programs. 

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Achieve Mission Success in operations and acquisition

Our ongoing activities in support of the Global War on Terrorism highlight the 

fact that our space capabilities have become increasingly integrated in our national 

intelligence and warfighting operations. Space systems are unique assets – they provide

global persistence, perspective, and access unhindered by geographic or political 

boundaries. Our space systems, whether integrated with airborne and surface sensors, or 

acting alone over areas of high risk or denied access, provide critical surveillance and 

reconnaissance information to national decision makers and combatant commanders. 

They are also the primary sources for global environmental monitoring and weather 

forecasting data, global communications, missile warning, precision navigation and 

timing to troops on the ground, ships at sea, aircraft in flight, and weapons en route to 

targets. These space capabilities enabled the tremendous success our joint warfighters 

achieved during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and will continue to be a

cornerstone for success in future conflicts. 

Our success in conflict relies on a mixture of technologies, tactics, and people, 

including military members, government civilians, and contractors. During Operation 

IRAQI FREEDOM, Air Force Space Command crews and their contractor mission

partners developed new tactics and procedures to achieve the highest Global Positioning 

System (GPS) accuracy possible to support combat operations; as a result, we were able 

to strike legitimate regime targets with pinpoint accuracy while minimizing collateral 

damage, protecting civilian lives, and reducing re-strike requirements. Also, in a prime

example of the benefits provided by integrating sources, coalition forces used a mixture

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of space, airborne, and surface sensors to detect Iraqi theater ballistic missile launches,

protecting lives while allowing our troops to sustain their operations tempo. 

To maintain our asymmetric advantages in space, we must continue to provide 

our warfighters with the most capable and reliable systems possible. We have eight 

national security space launches planned for CY04, which focus on sustaining and 

improving existing military and intelligence satellite constellations. This year, we will 

launch three GPS IIR satellites, and on February 14, 2004, I was pleased to be present as

our Air Force and industry team successfully launched a Defense Support Program (DSP) 

satellite to augment our strategic missile warning capabilities. This launch, and the

launch of an NRO payload in the last quarter of CY04 – one of three NRO launches this 

year – mark the last Titan launches from Cape Canaveral after 45 years of test and 

operations. Now our focus is shifting to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle 

(EELV) system for our future space launch missions. In support of this transition, we 

plan to launch the first heavy lift Delta IV EELV this year, giving us the capability to 

launch our heaviest communications and national security payloads. Our budget this year 

supports an anticipated price increase in future EELV buys, due largely to the downturn 

in the commercial launch market. 

Mission Success in operations must be accompanied by Mission Success in 

acquisitions. We have benefited greatly from the recommendations of the joint Defense 

Science Board and Air Force Scientific Advisory Board task force on Acquisition of 

National Security Space Programs, led by Mr. A. Thomas Young. One of their 

recommendations, with which I strongly agree, is that Mission Success should be the 

primary driver of a program, not cost and schedule. 

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As programs are established, strong systems engineering practices need to be 

employed. Management of requirements, early risk reduction activity, rigorous design 

discipline, periodic independent program assessment, and thorough component 

subsystem and system level test activities need to be built into the program at the onset.

Program Managers must have unencumbered schedule and financial reserves at their 

disposal to solve problems that arise during program execution. 

In an effort to institutionalize this thinking, and following an extensive 

coordination process with OSD and the Joint Staff, I signed the new National Security 

Space (NSS) Acquisition Policy 03-01 on October 6, 2003. Using this process, we have 

conducted Defense Space Acquisition Boards that approved Space Based Radar’s (SBR) 

entry into the Study Phase and Transformational Satellite’s (TSAT) entry into the Design 

Phase. In each case, an Independent Program Assessment Team and an Independent Cost 

Assessment Team identified key risk areas and made excellent recommendations on how 

to best manage the risks inherent in these complex and vital programs. In concert with 

the Joint Staff, the Intelligence Community, and OSD, we are implementing these 

recommendations so that these critical programs have the necessary foundation to assure

their future mission success. 

In addition to the institution of NSS 03-01, we have made great strides in 

developing better cost estimates. In a joint effort with the Director of OSD Cost Analysis 

Improvement Group (CAIG), we now have a strong space system cost estimating

capability in place; and, with the CAIG leading the Independent Cost Assessment Teams, 

have incorporated the process on SBR and TSAT. 

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NSS 03-01 and its companion directive in the NRO, in their current forms, have 

provided excellent insight into our programs. Yet, we're learning with each program 

acquisition milestone decision, and will update the policies later this year. 

Develop and maintain a team of Space Professionals

In order to preserve our advantage as the leading space faring nation, we must ensure 

we have a strategy to guarantee availability of the most crucial element of space power – our

space professionals. People remain central to our success in space, and meeting the serious 

challenges of today, and the future, requires a Total Force approach. We will continue to 

develop well-educated, motivated, and competent people who are skilled in the demands of 

the space medium. 

Operationally, they must understand the tactical environment they support, as well as

the space-unique tactics, techniques, and procedures needed. Technically, they must be

schooled in the acquisition of space systems, the requirements of the vehicles that operate in

space, and the development of space-related research, science, and technology. Our space 

professionals must be sensitive to the needs of the many and varied end-users of space 

capabilities, and be able to formulate and articulate new space doctrine to fully control and 

exploit the medium of space in support of our nation’s security objectives. They must be able

to develop new technologies, systems, training methods, concepts of operations and 

organizations that will continue to sustain the U.S. as a world leader in space. The new 

systems they develop must be able to achieve desirable effects at all levels of conflict.

Furthermore, they must ensure these systems are interoperable with and integrated into

architectures that support the creation of lethal and non-lethal effects. The backbone of our 

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joint and interagency space operations capabilities will continue to be individuals of 

exceptional dedication and ability. 

In order to develop and maintain our space professionals, we are implementing the 

Secretary of the Air Force-approved Space Professional Strategy, and the DoD Space Human

Capital Resources Strategy. These strategies describe a professional development construct 

that is comprehensive and recognizes the unique roles that officers, enlisted personnel, and 

government civilians play in National Security Space. As we implement these strategies, our 

objective is to ensure the space cadres of all the Services possess the necessary education,

skills and experiences, at all levels, to meet National Security Space needs. 

Integrate space capabilities for national intelligence and warfighting

We continue to make dramatic improvements integrating our manned and 

unmanned terrestrial, maritime, air, and space systems for joint warfighting and

intelligence collection, and have seen dramatic results. In Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, 

the difference was not so much the introduction of new capabilities, but rather the 

integration of existing space capabilities to produce desired effects. Using existing 

systems in new ways, applying new ideas and making new connections between 

information providers and information users is truly at the heart of our transformation and 

integration efforts. Our synchronization of end-user and space segment capabilities, and

the improvement of our enterprise-wide vertical and horizontal integration efforts are 

prime examples of our ability to transform our warfighting and intelligence gathering 

capabilities through integration. 

However, true transformational integration requires more than the use of existing

capabilities in new and innovative ways. We need to make integration a priority 

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throughout the enterprise. As we attempt to increase our worldwide persistent situational 

awareness, we need to bring a true system of systems approach to the fielding of new 

capabilities. SBR, for example, is not being developed in a vacuum. As we work 

through the early development of this system, which offers the promise of a start on a 

persistent surveillance architecture, we are ensuring that other systems in development, 

such as TSAT and the NRO’s Optical Relay Communications Architecture (ORCA), are 

not just interoperable with SBR, but are truly integrated from operational concept to 

employment. 

We continue to integrate our warfighting needs and our intelligence collection

activities. The Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) will not only replace the veteran 

DSP platform, but will also meet the demands for much greater capability in the mission 

areas of missile defense, battlespace characterization to support real-time warfighting 

operations, and technical intelligence. However, technical challenges associated with

electromagnetic interference have continued to delay the two highly-elliptical orbit 

payloads. These payloads, currently scheduled for delivery in FY04 and FY05, will 

perform at the crossroads of defense and intelligence needs, and we're managing them to 

ensure the missions of both communities. 

Another aspect of integration is to ensure that the defense and intelligence space

organizations work together as a team. As the DoD Executive Agent for Space, I 

strongly encourage unifying efforts across all of the space stakeholders – ensuring

integration remains a priority, not an afterthought. In support of this unity of effort, we

continue to integrate our corporate processes. Our planning, programming, budgeting, 

and acquisition efforts embrace an integrated capabilities-based approach to develop the 

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means necessary to secure our National Security objectives in the most effective and 

efficient manner possible. 

Yet, unity of effort alone is not enough. Our continuing commitment to 

integration is also shown in the development of our space professionals. The DoD has

developed a Space Human Capital Resources Strategy designed to integrate the space 

cadres of the military services and the Intelligence Community to the maximum extent 

practicable. Among other things, this means that we will be eliminating unnecessary 

redundancies in our space education and training programs as well as finding and 

eliminating gaps in our programs. More importantly, it means that space professionals 

from the four services and the Intelligence Community will be working together more 

closely, earlier in their careers. The best practices and ideas that they each bring to the 

table can truly help push our space capabilities to the next level. 

Integration properly done has a synergistic effect. The value of our National 

Security Space systems, developed with a system of systems approach, using integrated 

corporate processes, and manned by space professionals who have been developed in an 

environment that fosters innovative employment, will greatly exceed the sum of the parts. 

Produce innovative solutions for the most challenging national security problems

Our goal is transparency – we want the ability to see everything and know 

everything, while simultaneously denying our adversaries both the ability to do the same, 

and the knowledge that such capabilities are being used against them. We want to always 

be one step, or more, ahead of our adversaries – to be first to see, first to understand, and 

first to act. To do so requires the development of breakthrough technologies that would 

produce new sources and methods for collecting intelligence. Thus, our other activities 

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this year support the transformation of military satellite systems, with technology 

maturation and development activities in TSAT and SBR; and the modernization of 

current systems, including new jam-resistant capabilities for our GPS constellation. 

We will launch the last of the present generation of GPS satellites in FY04. In

FY05, we will begin launching the next generation of “modernized” GPS satellites, with

military-code and flexible power capabilities. The generation after next will be composed

of GPS III satellites, which will include all of the legacy capabilities, plus the addition of 

high-powered, anti-jam military-code, along with other accuracy, reliability, and data

integrity improvements. 

As always, communications play a fundamental role in any military action. We

are modernizing our communications systems, as well as preparing for the next leap

forward in capability. Last October, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC)

approved our Transformational Communications Architecture (TCA). Part of the TCA is 

the Wideband Gapfiller System (WGS), which will augment the current Defense Satellite 

Communications System (DSCS) capability. 

Another vital program, which will provide a smooth transition to TSAT, is the 

Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system that replaces the MILSTAR 

communications constellation. The first AEHF satellite will be launched in FY07 and 

will provide survivable, protected satellite communications for strategic and tactical 

users. AEHF represents a significant step forward in capability over current systems, 

providing up to 12 times greater capacity than MILSTAR with up to 4000 simultaneous 

networks while hosting up to 6000 users per satellite. 

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TSAT will be a revolutionary change in satellite communications for the 

warfighter and national intelligence. Our goal is to create an “internet in the sky” – 

making it possible for U.S. Marines in a Humvee, in a faraway land, in the middle of a

rainstorm, to open up their laptops, request imagery, and get it downloaded within 

seconds. TSAT is an enabler of horizontal integration – allowing our fighting forces to 

have near-real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance at their fingertips.

TSAT will provide an unprecedented connectivity with Internet-like capability that

extends the Global Information Grid to deployed and mobile users worldwide, and will 

deliver an order of magnitude increase in capacity. The program entered Design Phase 

this past month; and as a result, we recently awarded two contracts for risk reduction and 

design development. We plan to launch the first TSAT in FY12. 

SBR is an important element in our efforts to achieve horizontal integration. SBR 

will provide a start on persistent, global situational awareness and target tracking 

capability as part of a horizontally integrated DoD and National system of systems. 

Radar from space will provide the critical element of global persistence providing

day/night, all weather, worldwide, multi-theater surveillance on-demand. In FY05, we 

plan to focus on concept definition, risk reduction, and systems engineering activities, all 

leading to a System Requirements Review in third quarter of FY05 and a System Design 

Review as early as FY06. These activities are part of the Study phase (Concept 

Definition), which will culminate in a downselect award and a decision to enter Design 

Phase in mid FY06. 

Recent conflicts have proven, once again, how vital meteorological forecasting is

for military operations. Knowing what the weather is in any given location allows us to 

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choose the right weapon for the right target, and is an invaluable asset for navigation. 

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) will 

satisfy both civil and military national security requirements for space-based, remotely 

sensed environmental data that will significantly improve weather forecasting and climate 

prediction. NPOESS is a tri-agency (DoD/Department Of Commerce [DOC]/NASA)

satellite program consolidating the missions and programs of DoD's Defense 

Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and DOC's Polar-orbiting Operational 

Environmental Satellite (POES) systems into a single integrated program. An integrated 

suite of 12 very complex instruments will provide visible and infrared cloud-cover 

imagery and other atmospheric, oceanographic, terrestrial, and space environmental 

information. The system is currently in development, with a planned first launch in 

FY10. 

We cannot stay on the cutting edge of development without investing in science 

and technology (S&T) efforts. We are actively working with the Director, Defense

Research and Engineering, and organizations such as the Defense Advanced Research 

Projects Agency (DARPA), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and the Naval

Research Laboratory (NRL), along with civil agencies such as NASA on our space S&T 

effort. With their participation, we are documenting our space S&T strategy, which will 

be available this summer. We are also working with DARPA to leverage common 

technologies and applications into the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) program, 

including next generation propulsion, advanced structure, and thermal protection 

schemes. And while we do not currently have an operational role in NASA’s new space

exploration program, we will work closely with the agency through our Partnership 

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Council to find areas of possible collaboration. These activities build on nearly five 

decades of collaboration with NASA on X-vehicles, hypersonic propulsion, and space 

tests and technology demonstrations. 

Ensure freedom of action in space

Americans have come to rely on the unhindered use of space and will demand no 

less in the future. This includes robust capabilities for assured launch and space control.

While the United States supports the peaceful use of space by all, prudence demands that 

we must be able to ensure the United States, its allies, and coalition partners will be able 

to make use of space, while denying that use of space to adversaries. 

To ensure freedom of action, we are maintaining assured access to space in the 

near term as we simultaneously investigate entirely new, operationally responsive space 

activities. Today's space surveillance capability must evolve into integrated space 

situational awareness. Space control activities – while taking advantage of space 

situational awareness – emphasize first the protection of our national security interests

against known vulnerabilities and credible threats. We will also pursue a mix of 

capabilities to limit any adversary's ability to deny us free access to space and deny an 

adversary's use of space against us for hostile purposes. 

We are proud of the success of both families of Evolved Expendable Launch 

Vehicles (EELVs). With six successful launches in a row, three from each provider, 

these are the best launch vehicles we’ve ever produced. However, we are not finished 

yet. Long-term, we are pursuing vehicle concepts that can be launched on demand – in 

hours and days, rather than weeks and months – with the vision of fulfilling time-critical 

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warfighter requirements. I’ve been in the launch business for 45 years, and we still 

launch satellites about the same way we did in the 60s. We can do better. 

The intent of Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) is to create a more 

responsive, reliable, and affordable lift family capable of fulfilling both current and future

launch requirements, and the corresponding responsive and affordable satellites. Near 

term, we plan to demonstrate a more responsive and less expensive launch system with 

capabilities of 1,000 pounds to low earth orbit. Concurrently, Air Force Space Command,

AFRL, the NRO, DARPA, OSD's Office of Force Transformation, and our national and 

Service laboratories are sponsoring Tactical Satellite (TacSat) initiatives focused on 

responsive satellites, and decreasing the size, cost, and timelines of development. The

combined efforts of these initiatives – operationally responsive launch and satellite

development – will transform the delivery of space-based capabilities. Similarly, our 

launch ranges must keep pace with modernized launch vehicles and future launch

manifests. 

Even as we become more operationally responsive, future adversaries will try to 

deny us the asymmetric advantage that space provides us – as evidenced by the GPS 

jamming in Iraq. We must look now to overcome future threats that may not be as 

straightforward. We recently finished a broad reaching study to baseline vulnerabilities

of our military space systems. An action plan is being implemented that will help

mitigate vulnerabilities in a way that will help ensure the availability of space capabilities 

to our warfighters and national decision makers. Our efforts currently fall into three

areas: Space Situational Awareness (SSA), Defensive Counter Space (DCS), and 

Offensive Counter Space (OCS). 

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SSA forms the foundation for our counter space actions and includes traditional 

space surveillance, detailed reconnaissance of specific space assets, collection and 

processing of space intelligence data, and analysis of the space environment. It also

encompasses the use of traditional intelligence sources to provide insights into adversary 

space operations. We continue to invest in critical capabilities to improve our ability to

detect, track and characterize objects in space. 

We are modernizing the current Space Surveillance Network with new hardware 

for selected radar and optical sensors, and plan to integrate and fuse this improved sensor 

data with space intelligence and environment data through a command and control 

system. This will allow us to produce a common space picture relevant to the warfighter 

for decision-making. Finally, we will increase our surveillance and characterization 

capabilities to new levels when we deploy our new space-based sensors: Space Based

Space Surveillance (SBSS) and Orbital Deep Space Imager (ODSI). 

SBSS will be a constellation of optical sensing satellites in Low Earth Orbit 

designed to provide timely and accurate information on satellite locations. The SBSS 

constellation is the follow-on to the successful Mid-Course Space Experiment/Space 

Based Visible (MSX/SBV) sensor on orbit today. The initial SBSS satellite will launch 

in FY07, and improve our ability to detect deep space objects by 80% over the 

MSX/SBV system. ODSI will be a constellation of satellites in geo-synchronous orbit,

and will provide significant improvement in today's ability to not only track, but also 

characterize objects in space. 

In terms of protecting U.S. space assets, our Defensive Counter Space program

continues the development of the Rapid Attack Identification Detection and Reporting

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System (RAIDRS) to ensure capability to identify and locate attacks on US space 

systems. The first spiral of RAIDRS will include radio frequency interference detection, 

and geo-location for communication satellites, and laser dazzling detection for DSP. 

RAIDRS is one key element of a larger strategy to identify and reduce 

vulnerabilities across the National Security Space sector. Over the past year, we have 

worked across the NRO, U.S. Strategic Command, and other organizations to develop an 

integrated approach for investments in protection. This crosscutting effort seeks to deter 

attacks on U.S. space interests by making focused investments in specific programs, as 

well as in generic capabilities like RAIDRS. 

Our Offensive Counter Space program is intended to develop systems to deny

adversary use of space and assure U.S. space superiority. Earlier this fiscal year, we 

successfully tested and delivered the first Counter Communications Systems to the 76th

Space Control Squadron at Peterson AFB, Colorado. We plan to deliver two more of the 

first generation units in FY05 to achieve a Full Operational Capability, and will then 

begin work on the next generation capability. We also intend to award a contract for the 

multi-service Army/Air Force Counter Surveillance and Reconnaissance System (CSRS)

for final system design and development. CSRS is a mobile, transportable system that 

will use reversible effects to counter space-based surveillance and reconnaissance 

satellites. Our goal is to achieve Initial Operational Capability in FY09. 

Conclusion

This is an exciting time for the space programs in the Department of Defense and 

Intelligence Community. In spite of the challenges we face, we have the most capable

space force in the world as proven by recent actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our 

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accomplishments in CY03 include successful launches of 11 national security satellites 

and the successful launches of both the Atlas V and Delta IV EELV launch vehicles. In 

addition, we have made great progress in modernizing our current family of systems, 

working toward the next generation of intelligence, communications, remote sensing, 

missile warning, and environmental satellites. 

We have identified and are addressing systemic issues in order to improve our 

ability to deliver these vital capabilities. However, space programs are challenging – by 

virtue of the complex technologies, small quantities, and the inability to repair them onorbit. This requires up-front investment and attention to practices that are more 

demanding than in most other acquisitions. As long as we continue to expect our space 

systems to provide extremely asymmetric advantages, even after years on-orbit, then we 

will be building systems that are on the leading edge of technology. We are working to 

minimize the difficulties; but as we continue to push the technological envelope, 

challenging situations will always be part of the equation. 

I appreciate the continued support the Congress and this Committee have given to 

help deliver these vital capabilities, and I look forward to working with you as we 

continue to develop, produce, launch, and operate critical space systems that deliver vital 

capabilities to this great nation.