Subcommittee Chair Ellen Tauscher Strategic Forces Subcommittee Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request for National Security Space Activities

March 5, 2008

"The hearing will come to order. The Strategic Forces Subcommittee meets this afternoon to receive testimony on national security space activities from: General Robert Kehler, the Commander of Air Force Space Command; Mr. Gary Payton, the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs; and Mr. Scott Large, the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.

"I want to thank each of our distinguished witnesses for being here today.

"This hearing is an important opportunity for the subcommittee to consider the posture of our nation's space assets, their importance to our warfighters, and to reflect on the fragility of our space systems.

"This fragility was highlighted recently by the failure of an experimental NRO satellite early in its mission, and by the President's decision to destroy that satellite before it reentered the atmosphere with one-thousand pounds of frozen hydrazine fuel in a titanium tank.

"By successfully intercepting the failed satellite about 130 miles above the earth's surface - just above the upper edge of the atmosphere - our nation took responsibility for eliminating a risk to human populations that we ourselves created.

"At the same time, the United States executed the intercept consistent with international norms discouraging creation of dangerous space debris - the vast majority of debris created by the intercept has already reentered the Earth's atmosphere or will reenter in the coming days and weeks and disintegrate.

"I also applaud the open and transparent manner in which our military leadership has explained and executed this mission. I know that each of our witnesses today played a key role in this effort and each of you, as well as your whole team, should be commended for a job well done.

"The recent U.S. intercept stands in sharp contrast to the secretive anti-satellite test that the Chinese performed a year ago last January. Without alerting other space-faring nations - as required by international norms - they destroyed one of their own aging weather satellites over 500 miles above the earth's surface, creating a debris-field with thousands of lethal objects that will remain in low-earth orbit and threaten satellites, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station for decades to come.

"As a nation critically dependent on space, I would like to ask our witnesses today to address the following question concerning our space posture: If our space assets are attacked, do we have appropriate contingency plans for closing the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gaps that our warfighters would experience?

"Last year, testifying as commander of US STRATCOM, General James Cartwright, who is currently Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commented that not every problem in space requires a solution in space. He went on to express concern about a possible arms race in space.

"Last week, we received testimony from Assistant Secretary of Defense, Michael Vickers, who stated: 'DoD seeks to promote compliance with existing legal regimes, acceptance of international debris mitigation guidelines, and development of additional voluntary guidelines for safe and responsible space operations.'

"In this context, I would also like to hear what each of our witnesses thinks about the merits and drawbacks of establishing additional international 'rules of the road' to govern operations in space?

"Let me be clear: I want to make sure that my subcommittee, as well as the Department of Defense, is doing everything we can to ensure that our warfighters retain the advantage space-based systems provide, and that this advantage is not degraded by the Chinese test or any future attacks.

"But we must be prepared for more than just the possible use of a direct ascent ASAT. Future attacks may come from a ground-based laser or electronic jammers. An enemy might directly attack the ground-based components used by satellites. Or an adversary may use cyber-space to attack vulnerabilities in our satellite systems.

"One of the most basic requirements for protecting our satellites - which I am concerned does not receive sufficient attention - is to know their current status and to understand the threats they face.

"Space situational awareness, as it is known, has not always received the attention it deserves in competition with the desire to field new space systems with improved capabilities.

"It was with this concern in mind that our subcommittee advocated for, and the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 directed, the development of a national space protection strategy. The Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the Director of National Intelligence, must prepare a strategy focused primarily on protection and space situational awareness requirements by July of this year.

"Today, I would like to ask our witnesses to discuss the Administration's progress toward establishing a space protection strategy; and, just as importantly, to address this question: Do you think we have struck the right balance in the FY 2009 budget between investing in new systems and efforts to improve space situational awareness?

"With an aging generation of systems on-orbit, the national security space community has been struggling to develop and field new systems for the past decade.

"In that regard, I know our witnesses must be proud of the payloads that were successfully delivered on orbit this past year, including the last Defense Support Program satellite, the first Wideband Global SATCOM satellite and two additional GPS birds.

"And I want to congratulate each of our witnesses today on the 56th consecutive successful launch of a medium or heavy payload that took place on December 10th last year - launching into orbit a satellite developed by the NRO.

"Yet as we well know, even with these successes, we face potential gaps in key satellite capabilities during the next decade. Many of the replacement systems - such as SBIRS, the DSP replacement - have been plagued by inaccurate cost estimates and optimistic predictions of technical maturity.

"More generally, I am concerned that the space acquisition system is fundamentally broken, and I would ask our witnesses to discuss what is being done to fix the process.

"In particular, how can we be confident that the 'back to basics' strategy that you have adopted will result in better acquisition outcomes?

"I am well aware of the benefits space-based assets provide to the war fighter, and I am committed to maintaining these capabilities without any gaps. Over the past few years, Congress slowed the development of selected systems through the budget process due to concerns about the pace of these new programs and the emphasis on 'transformational systems' designed to skip a technological generation.

"While the Administration adopted the 'back to basics' approach partly in response to congressional concerns, this year we are concerned that you may well have overcorrected by delaying fielding of TSAT by at least two years.

"TSAT will be required to provide the necessary bandwidth to support protected communications on the move for systems such as the Army's Future Combat System. We hope that our witnesses today can help us understand why $4 billion previously designated for TSAT was removed from the five-year defense plan?

"While we have many questions, I want to assure you that the Congress is committed to working with the Department and the intelligence community to put our national security space programs on an affordable, sustainable track; one which accounts for the change in the threat environment and will protect our warfighters and the American people.

"Before we proceed, I would like to remind my colleagues and the witnesses that we are in open session and to take care to keep our questions and your answers unclassified.

"With that, I would like to thank the witnesses once again for being here today, and I look forward to your testimony.

"Let me now recognize my good friend and colleague, Mr. Everett, the ranking member of the subcommittee for any comments he might have. Mr. Everett, the floor is yours."