From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (Mar 29, 1996 12:21 p.m. EST) -- The Clinton administration  
announced today it  will loosen military security restrictions and allow greater  
commercial use of a global navigation  system.

In a move that Vice President Al Gore said could turn a $1 billion  industry 
into an $8 billion industry  in four years and create 100,000 jobs -- mostly in 
California -- the  administration said it can protect  military security while 
expanding access to the system.

"We are harnessing power in the sky to chart a prosperous new course  on the 
ground," Gore said at  a White House news conference.

Under a newly approved White House policy, the Pentagon will end in  four to 10 
years its practice  of degrading the quality of the Global Positioning System 
signal  available for commercial use. That  practice had been designed to ensure 
a technological edge for U.S.  military forces. But technologies  being 
developed will be able to secure the military GPS system.

As a result, a far more accurate GPS system will be available for  cars, 
airplanes, trains, trucks,  ambulances, oil tankers, even hikers.

Using small, portable receivers to pick up satellite signals, GPS  users can 
pinpoint their locations  anywhere in the world, even at sea, under any weather 
conditions.

"Before long it's going to be very difficult to get lost," said  Charles R. 
Trimble, president of Trimble  Navigation Ltd. of Sunnyvale, Calif.

Trimble's company is one of several high-tech firms in California that  stands 
to benefit from the new  policy. Trimble, whose company built the equipment used 
last year to  recover downed fighter pilot  Scott O'Grady in Bosnia, said the 
White House move would open up  overseas markets to  manufacturers of GPS 
equipment.

And Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said that while the policy  change 
won't take place  immediately, the announcement gives the private sector a clear  
statement of where administration  policy is going and clears the way for 
development of new commercial  GPS systems.

An official at Rockwell International Corp., which manufactures GPS  receivers, 
said Thursday his  company could do more business with airlines interested in 
using it as  a landing aid and in planning  flight routes. It also is used in 
car navigation.

The news conference was the latest in a series of White House press  events 
designed to highlight the  degree to which the administration is on the cutting 
edge of high-tech  commercial communications  developments. It included a slide 
show, film clips of GPS users, and  an outdoor demonstration of a  car fitted 
with GPS equipment.

Gore said that under the new policy, the government will collect no  fees from 
commercial users of  the constellation of 24 satellites that produce the 
signals. The  Pentagon has invested $5 billion in the  satellite network and 
expects to spend another $5 billion by the end  of the decade.

Commercial use has been limited by the Defense Department, which  developed the 
system and  operates it, out of national security concerns. The U.S. military  
views the GPS technology as an  important battlefield advantage. In the 1991 
Persian Gulf War, for  example, GPS receivers mounted  on U.S. tanks and other 
combat vehicles enabled the Army to navigate  the Iraqi desert with  precision.

Among other things, the military uses GPS to provide more precise  guidance to 
missiles and shells.