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. LOBI-
ONDO) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Positioning, 
Navigation, and Timing Resilience and Security Act of 
2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite 
signals are used by all critical infrastructure sectors 
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in the United States and are crucial to the reliable 
and secure operation of defense systems operated by 
the United States Armed Forces. 
(2) Use and dependence on GPS signals in the 
United States continues to grow. 
(3) GPS signals are relatively weak and con-
sequently unable to reach many indoor environments 
or underground installations, which limits their use 
for first responders, law enforcement, the Armed 
Forces, and other users. 
(4) Due to the relative weakness of GPS sig-
nals, such signals can be easily corrupted, degraded, 
or denied access to. 
(5) There is an increasing use of inexpensive 
and widely available GPS jammers by organized 
crime syndicates and rogue states. 
(6) A prolonged disruption of GPS signals 
caused by jamming or other cyber security threats 
would cause serious national security, intelligence, 
and economic disruption for the United States. 
(7) Since 2004, the Federal Government has 
recognized that the absence of a reliable backup sys-
tem for GPS is a glaring economic and security 
threat to the United States, and has reaffirmed its 
interest in developing an enhanced long-range navi-
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gation system (LORAN), or eLORAN, as a reliable 
land-based backup for GPS signals. 
(8) The establishment of a land-based posi-
tioning, navigation, and timing backup system to 
complement GPS as soon as practicable is essential 
to secure the economic and national security inter-
ests of the United States. 
SEC. 3. BACKUP GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 2281 of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended by— 
(1) redesignating subsection (d) as subsection 
(e); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(d) LAND-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND BACKUP 
SYSTEM.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, 
in consultation with the Commandant of the Coast 
Guard and the Secretary of Transportation, shall 
provide for the establishment, sustainment, and op-
eration of a reliable land-based positioning, naviga-
tion, and timing system to provide a complement to 
and backup for GPS to ensure the availability of 
uncorrupted or non-degraded positioning, navigation, 
and timing signals for military and civilian users if 
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GPS signals are corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or 
otherwise unavailable. 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The system established 
under paragraph (1) shall— 
‘‘(A) be wireless, terrestrial, and wide-area; 
‘‘(B) provide a precise, high-power 100 
kilohertz signal; 
‘‘(C) be resilient and extremely difficult to 
disrupt or degrade; 
‘‘(D) be able to penetrate underground and 
inside buildings; 
‘‘(E) take full advantage of existing, un-
used government long-range navigation system 
(commonly known as ‘LORAN’) infrastructure; 
‘‘(F) incorporate the expertise and con-
tributions of the private sector to quickly estab-
lish a system architecture, build, and operate a 
land-based GPS back-up system; and 
‘‘(G) work in concert with and complement 
any other similar positioning, navigation, and 
timing systems, including enhanced long-range 
navigation 
systems 
(commonly 
known 
as 
‘eLORAN’).’’. 
(b) IMPLEMENTATION DATE.—The Secretary of De-
fense, in consultation with the Commandant of the Coast 
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Guard and the Secretary of Transportation, shall ensure 
that the system required under subsection (d) of section 
2281 of title 10, United States Code, as inserted by sub-
section (a) of this section, is fully operational not later 
than three years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
Æ 
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