Booz Allen Vice President Named to NASA Advisory Board

Keith Hall accepts a prominent role in overseeing GPS support for U.S. military interests—and for the needs of a global population.

Comprised of a constellation of about two dozen U.S. government satellites, the Global Positioning System (GPS) was built by the DoD to aid in national security. Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) data provided by the GPS was intended to support defense operations such as precision strike capabilities.

“But GPS has become an integral part of the entire global economy,” says Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President Keith Hall. “GPS technology can be found in everything from cars and airplanes to ambulances and cell phones. Citizens as well as governments rely on it worldwide for precise location and time references that not only improve efficiency and effectiveness, but can also save lives.”

Keith Hall

With the potential of the GPS having such an enormous global impact, the President established the National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee in 2005 to advise federal agencies on GPS-related issues. Chaired by the Deputy Secretaries of Defense and Transportation, the committee includes officials from the Departments of State, Commerce, and Homeland Security, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and NASA.

Shortly afterward, NASA created the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board to provide independent advice to the Executive Committee and oversee U.S. space-based PNT policy, planning, program management, and funding.

In March 2007, Hall was appointed to the 24-member PNT Advisory Board. His experience with space system acquisition and understanding of the GPS policy environment were principal considerations in his selection.

“The PNT Advisory Board provides a wide range of stakeholders and subject matter experts to advise the Executive Committee,” Hall says. “The stature of the expert board members, including key representatives from industry, international organizations, and close allies, ensures that advice the board proffers will be carefully considered.”

Providing Broad Access While Addressing New Challenges

From agriculture and emergency health services to earthquake prediction and package delivery, PNT data can increase productivity, enhance public safety, and improve quality of life for billions of people.

Because the GPS signal can be easily received, free PNT data—including highly accurate, standardized location and time information—is available to anyone equipped with a GPS receiver. Precise GPS time signals derived from atomic clocks are even being applied to the management of power grids.

PNT combines three capabilities:

• Positioning – Precise determination of one’s location and orientation in two or three dimensions
• Navigation – Accurate determination of a current position and ability to correct course, orientation, and speed to attain a desired position anywhere in the world
• Timing – Ability to calculate the accurate time anywhere on Earth

Collectively, space-based PNT capabilities provide position, velocity, and timing data that enables every user to operate on the same reference system and timing standard.

There are a number of key challenges in PNT, however, that the board will have to consider. “First, we must determine the capabilities that need to be provided in the future, as DoD considers a replacement GPS capability for the aging constellation of satellites now in orbit,” says Hall.

“Second, how can we best craft a cooperative global GPS capability as other nations deploy PNT capabilities of their own? And finally, we must determine how the national security use of PNT capabilities can be ensured going forward.”

Hall leads Booz Allen’s work for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), intelligence, and space markets. He served for three decades in the public sector as the Director of the NRO and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force. As NRO director, Hall was responsible for the acquisition and operation of all U.S. space-based reconnaissance and intelligence systems. At the Air Force, he supervised space-related issues with emphasis on policy, strategy, and planning.

story posted April 11, 2007