The global positioning system (GPS) is one of the wonders of modern technology. It allows individual Americans, our economy, and our military to navigate the world. It’s a tremendous asset, but it has its weaknesses, as highlighted in a new report from the Bull Moose Project.
As the report makes clear, it’s particularly vulnerable to hacking from America’s foreign enemies, particularly China. This has been an issue warned about by security experts for years.
“A great many incidents over the past several years have left no doubt that the system is vulnerable to disruption, both inadvertent and intentional,” Admiral Thad Allen, chairman of the US National Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board, declared in a Heritage report on the matter. “Because so much of our country’s critical infrastructure and supply chains rely on GPS, that infrastructure is itself vulnerable to disruption.”
This is why President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, under the leadership of Chairman Brendan Carr, is investigating alternatives to GPS. If the worst case happens, alternatives would allow America to continue to function in spite of Chinese disruption. “While GPS may be indispensable, it is not infallible,” Carr wrote back in March. “Continuing to rely so heavily on one system leaves us exposed.”
It makes perfect sense for the government to look into ways to protect our economy and national security by looking into 5G backups to GPS. The world is too dangerous to rely completely on one system.
However, Chinese interests and their corporate America cronies are trying to stop this effort. As the new report from the Bull Moose Project shows, these companies are putting China’s interests first, not America’s.
The Washington Examiner reported earlier this week on Bull Moose’s study that found “five industry groups representing a large number of Chinese corporations, many with government connections, that are working to kill a proposal before the Federal Communications Commission that would approve the use of terrestrial 5G technology to provide GPS services.”
These entities include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the LoRa Alliance, the RAIN Alliance, the Security Industry Association, the Wi-Sun Alliance, and the Z-Wave Alliance. One of the companies involved in the effort is ZTE Corporation, a Chinese firm sanctioned by the U.S. government over exporting American tech to Iran and North Korea.
The Bull Moose report also highlights the issues with GPS, from its “perilously” weak signals to its easy hackability. “GPS is a lifeline for America’s military,” Bull Moose declared in an X thread outlining its report. “But it’s also incredibly vulnerable—and if it fails, we have no alternatives. And China is trying to stop us from developing them.”
The group, along with other experts, suggests that America pursue land-based alternatives to GPS that would be harder to hack, more durable, and produce stronger signals. But such an alternative is strongly opposed by the corporate lobbying effort aligned with Chinese interests.
There are plenty of other options as well. All it takes is for our leaders to invest the time and resources into developing backup technologies to avert catastrophe. There is no reason not to—unless you’re afraid China may lose its technological battle with America.
President Trump has made it his priority to put America first. His administration has lived up to its promise through its many moves to isolate Chinese influence and subversion over our national security infrastructure. It makes sense to further advance this mission and build up alternatives to GPS.
Our future depends on it.