Bush: Give Me Plans for GPS Shutdown

U.S. President Bush has asked the Department of Defense to draft plans for shutting down the nation's GPS network in the event of a national emergency. This action would prevent terrorists from using the technology to carry out a widespread attack, the White House told reporters Wednesday.

A White House official requesting anonymity explained further that a shutdown would only occur in the most extreme cases.

With the request, the President asked for research to begin on how they could disrupt navigational satellites regionally during smaller emergencies.

"This is not something you would do lightly," said James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's clearly a big deal. You have to give them credit for being so open about what they're going to do."

The move would revive an abandoned plan by President Clinton to jam certain navigational satellites on an as-needed basis, dubbed "selective availability."