I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1678 

To require the Secretary of Defense to establish a backup for the global 

positioning system, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2015 

Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. DEFAZIO, and Mr. LOBIONDO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Defense to establish a backup 

for the global positioning system, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Positioning, 

5 Navigation, and Timing Resilience and Security Act of 

6 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite 

10 signals are used by all critical infrastructure sectors 


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1 in the United States and are crucial to the reliable 

2 and secure operation of defense systems operated by 

3 the United States Armed Forces. 

4 (2) Use and dependence on GPS signals in the 

5 United States continues to grow. 

6 (3) GPS signals are relatively weak and con7 sequently unable to reach many indoor environments 

8 or underground installations, which limits their use 

9 for first responders, law enforcement, the Armed 

10 Forces, and other users. 

11 (4) Due to the relative weakness of GPS sig12 nals, such signals can be easily corrupted, degraded, 

13 or denied access to. 

14 (5) There is an increasing use of inexpensive 

15 and widely available GPS jammers by organized 

16 crime syndicates and rogue states. 

17 (6) A prolonged disruption of GPS signals 

18 caused by jamming or other cyber security threats 

19 would cause serious national security, intelligence, 

20 and economic disruption for the United States. 

21 (7) Since 2004, the Federal Government has 

22 recognized that the absence of a reliable backup sys23 tem for GPS is a glaring economic and security 

24 threat to the United States, and has reaffirmed its 

25 interest in developing an enhanced long-range naviVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Apr 03, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1678.IH H1678

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1 gation system (LORAN), or eLORAN, as a reliable 

2 land-based backup for GPS signals. 

3 (8) The establishment of a land-based posi4 tioning, navigation, and timing backup system to 

5 complement GPS as soon as practicable is essential 

6 to secure the economic and national security inter7 ests of the United States. 

8 SEC. 3. BACKUP GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 2281 of title 10, 

10 United States Code, is amended by— 

11 (1) redesignating subsection (d) as subsection 

12 (e); and 

13 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol14 lowing new subsection: 

15 ‘‘(d) LAND-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND BACKUP

16 SYSTEM.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, 

18 in consultation with the Commandant of the Coast 

19 Guard and the Secretary of Transportation, shall 

20 provide for the establishment, sustainment, and op21 eration of a reliable land-based positioning, naviga22 tion, and timing system to provide a complement to 

23 and backup for GPS to ensure the availability of 

24 uncorrupted or non-degraded positioning, navigation, 

25 and timing signals for military and civilian users if 


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1 GPS signals are corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or 

2 otherwise unavailable. 

3 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The system established 

4 under paragraph (1) shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) be wireless, terrestrial, and wide-area; 

6 ‘‘(B) provide a precise, high-power 100 

7 kilohertz signal; 

8 ‘‘(C) be resilient and extremely difficult to 

9 disrupt or degrade; 

10 ‘‘(D) be able to penetrate underground and 

11 inside buildings; 

12 ‘‘(E) take full advantage of existing, un13 used government long-range navigation system 

14 (commonly known as ‘LORAN’) infrastructure; 

15 ‘‘(F) incorporate the expertise and con16 tributions of the private sector to quickly estab17 lish a system architecture, build, and operate a 

18 land-based GPS back-up system; and 

19 ‘‘(G) work in concert with and complement 

20 any other similar positioning, navigation, and 

21 timing systems, including enhanced long-range 

22 navigation systems (commonly known as 

23 ‘eLORAN’).’’. 

24 (b) IMPLEMENTATION DATE.—The Secretary of De25 fense, in consultation with the Commandant of the Coast 


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1 Guard and the Secretary of Transportation, shall ensure 

2 that the system required under subsection (d) of section 

3 2281 of title 10, United States Code, as inserted by sub4 section (a) of this section, is fully operational not later 

5 than three years after the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act. 

Æ 


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