US military, intel urged to cooperate more on space
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. military and intelligence agencies must cooperate more closely on key satellite programs given mounting budget pressures and rapid advances by China and Russia in their space programs, a top U.S. lawmaker warned on Tuesday.
"We don't really have the money any more. It has to be a team effort," Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Maryland Democrat and member of the House appropriations and intelligence committees, told reporters at a Space Foundation meeting.
He said the stakes were too high to accept any additional failures in big military space programs, and the United States urgently needed a clear plan for funding, developing, and using satellites, which have become imperative to military and intelligence operations, and many civilian uses.
"Russia and China are getting dangerously close" to challenging U.S. space dominance, he said. "There's no room for failure when you're putting billions of dollars out there," Ruppersberger said.
"If we can pull this together, we can still maintain our dominance. ... The biggest threat to world security is the ability to control space."
Ruppersberger said he believed President-elect Barack Obama would quickly examine space programs given their huge cost and importance, and a long history of troubled programs.
One classified multibillion imagery satellite program run by Boeing Co (BA.N) was canceled after it ran into major technical issues and cost overruns of more than $4 billion. Many other programs have run into cost and scheduled programs.
Ruppersberger gave no details, but said some classified programs were actually doing well. Still, all programs would benefit from reforms, including development of a comprehensive road map, clear designation of the officials in charge, and acquisition reforms, he said.
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He said an unclassified report prepared by the House Intelligence Committee had recommended greater use of commercial satellites by the military and the intelligence community for imagery, radars and even communications.
The United States would still need some big satellites for sophisticated, complex missions, but commercial satellites could be tapped for more routine work, he said.
"Europe has taken advantage of commercial and they're way ahead of us," he said. By contrast, the U.S. military "has a real resistance to commercial because they want to own everything."
Ruppersberger backed continued separation of civilian and military space programs, but said there was scope for greater collaboration between NASA and the Pentagon, for instance.
He said lawmakers scrapped a proposed program for the National Reconnaissance Office to build two commercial-grade imagery satellites mainly because the military and intelligence communities had not demonstrated a clear plan for the program.
Ruppersberger also took issue with the fact that only three percent of spending on space programs went into research and development and said that sum should grow to 8 to 10 percent.
He also called for relaxing tough export controls that he said have crippled the ability of U.S. industry to compete internationally.
"It's really become a huge business in Europe to circumvent (International Traffic in Arms Regulations). Consequently we're at a huge disadvantage," he said.
He said those regulations were written in response to transfers of sensitive technology to China, but Congress had "overreacted" and made the regulations too restrictive.
Given the complexity of many of these issues, Ruppersberger said he would support a decision by President-elect Barack Obama to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in office for some time. "There needs to be some stability here," he said.
Ruppersberger also said he supported U.S. efforts to have humans land on the moon again, saying it could help motivate young people to pursue careers in science and technology. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Brian Moss)
