Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

11. See Letter from George E. Brown, Jr., Chairman of the House Committee on Science,
Space and Technology, to Dr. D. James Baker, NOAA Administrator, February 22, 1993.
12. See Letters from Senator James Exon to Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and
Deputy Secretary of Defense William Perry, June 2, 1993.
13. “Horner Supports Converged System,” Space News (June 27, 1993), p. 4.
14. Blersch, DMSP/POES Convergence Handbook, p. II-2.
15. See U.S. General Accounting Office, Economies Available to Converging Government
Meteorological Satellites (Washington, D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1986).
16. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Subcommittee on
Space, testimony by Dr. Ray A. Williamson, Office of Technology Assessment, May 6, 1993.
Document II-10
Document title: Presidential Decision Directive/NSTC-2, The White House, “Convergence
of U.S. Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite Systems,” May 5, 1994.
Source: NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
This document, the result of a recommendation from the Clinton administration’s National
Performance Review, lays out a broad plan for the convergence of the U.S. Polar-orbiting
Environmental Satellite System, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), with the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s polar-orbiting system, operated by the
U.S. Air Force. It calls for the establishment of an Integrated Program Office by October 1, 1994, to
be operated jointly by the Departments of Commerce and Defense and by NASA. It gives NOAA the
lead responsibility for operating the converged system. The Department of Defense would be responsible
for major systems acquisition, and NASA would lead in “facilitating the development and insertion
of new cost effective technologies” into the system.
[no pagination]
EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 221
THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON May 5, 1994
PRESIDENTIAL DECISION DIRECTIVE/NSTC-2
TO: The Vice President
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Commerce
The Director, Office of Management and Budget
The Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
The Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
SUBJECT: Convergence of U.S. Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite Systems