Based on concerns that U.S. Combatant Commands (COCOMS) may not be receiving commercial remote sensing data in operationally relevant timelines, a House Armed Services Committee (HASC) panel wants the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to report back on current warfighting requirements for commercial satellite data and if needs are being met.
“Of particular concern are reports of COCOMS not receiving commercial data and products in timelines to support sensitive operations, particularly for those that require sharing of unclassified commercial data with partners, which remains increasingly difficult to do with intelligence community data,” the HASC Subcommittee on Strategic Forces said on Monday in draft language for the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill.
The panel wants the chairman’s report to be organized by each COCOM and include the number of requests made over the past two years to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the number of requests that were fulfilled, partially met, and whether the provided data “met the required tactical timeline,” the draft says.
The White House’s top space adviser last week said the National Space Council has begun an examination of whether COCOMs’ needs for tactical surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting support are being made (Defense Daily, May 8). Chirag Parikh’s comments at the annual GEOINT Symposium came two days after the director of the NGA and a top Space Force official gave conflicting keynote addresses at the conference, with Lt. Gen. David Miller, commander of U.S. Space Command saying that warfighters’ needs for targeting data are not being met fast enough, and NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth saying otherwise (Defense Daily, May 6).
NGA is a combat support agency and a member of the intelligence community. The agency provides products and services to COCOMs and other stakeholders based on government and commercially-acquired imagery.
The National Reconnaissance Office acquires exquisite spy satellites and data from commercial Earth observation spacecraft. Commercial data is unclassified and easily sharable.