This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.
PRESIDENT CLINTON ISSUES NEW NATIONAL SPACE POLICY
The President today will announce a new national space policy that
is the first post-Cold War assessment of American space goals and
activities. The new policy commits the nation to a strong and stable
program in space that addresses both U.S. civil and national security
requirements, and will ensure America's role as the world's space
leader.
The new policy, to be unveiled by Assistant to the President for
Science and Technology John H. Gibbons, results from a year-long review
undertaken by the National Science and Technology Council and the
National Security Council. Among its key provisions:
Within the civil space program, the policy reaffirms a U.S.
commitment to the International Space Station and to the next-generation
of launch vehicle programs; it calls for an aggressive space science
program including the sustained robotic exploration of Mars, sample
return missions from celestial bodies within the solar system and a
long-term program to identify and characterize planets around other
stars; and maintains our current commitment to a long-term program of
environmental monitoring from space.
In the commercial sector, the policy seeks to stimulate
private-sector investment by committing the U.S. government to purchase
commercially available goods and services, and by offering stable and
predictable access to federal space-related hardware, facilities, and
data. The policy also lays the groundwork for moving away from
international launch quotas toward an international commercial
environment characterized by free and fair trade in commercial launch
services.
For national security, the policy directs closer coordination
between Department of Defense and intelligence community activities
related to space policy. It directs the Secretary of Defense and the
Director of Central Intelligence to improve the nation's ability to
support military operations worldwide, to monitor and respond to
strategic military threats, and to monitor arms control and
nonproliferation agreements and activities.
On August 7, 1996 the President called for a bipartisan summit on
the future of America's space program. The policy announced today is an
important milestone in the preparation for the summit, and will serve as
the blueprint for future efforts to maintain a balanced and robust
national space effort. An unclassified summary of the Presidential
Decision Directive implementing the policy is available.