US Lawmakers Warn GPS Vulnerabilities Could Threaten Economy, National Security

Washington, June 2026 : US lawmakers have raised serious concerns about the vulnerability of the Global Positioning System (GPS), warning that a major disruption caused by hostile actors could trigger widespread economic and national security consequences. The issue took center stage during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, where lawmakers and industry experts discussed growing threats from China and Russia and explored options for strengthening America’s positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities.

Members of the bipartisan panel agreed that GPS has become one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in modern society. While the system is best known for helping people navigate roads and track locations through smartphones, lawmakers noted that GPS now supports a vast range of services essential to daily life and economic activity.

Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson emphasized that GPS underpins numerous sectors, including telecommunications, banking, energy networks, transportation systems, emergency response services and military operations.

“Put simply, a catastrophic failure of GPS as a result of adversary spoofing or jamming would be devastating to our economy,” Hudson said, warning that rival nations are increasingly developing capabilities to interfere with satellite-based navigation and timing services.

The concerns come amid growing reports of GPS disruptions in various parts of the world. Lawmakers pointed to incidents in conflict zones where electronic warfare tactics, including signal jamming and spoofing, have been used to disrupt navigation systems. Hudson highlighted a recent case involving a British military aircraft that reportedly lost GPS signals due to suspected Russian interference.

Ranking Member Doris Matsui said many Americans are unaware of the extent to which modern society depends on GPS technology.

According to Matsui, GPS plays a critical role in keeping internet networks synchronized, facilitating electronic payment systems, protecting financial transactions from fraud and enabling emergency responders to locate people during 911 calls. She warned that a prolonged disruption could have cascading effects across communications networks, aviation, agriculture, energy infrastructure and supply chains.

Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie echoed those concerns, noting that America’s adversaries are actively testing and deploying GPS-disruption technologies abroad.

“Overseas, our adversaries are actively jamming and spoofing GPS in conflict zones, putting our service members at even greater risk,” Guthrie said. “A disruption to GPS here at home has the potential to be catastrophic for the economy.”

Experts appearing before the committee acknowledged the challenges but stressed that GPS remains one of the most reliable technological systems ever developed.

Lisa Dyer, Executive Director of the GPS Innovation Alliance, described GPS as “one of America’s greatest innovations.” She noted that since becoming fully operational in 1995, the system has not experienced a single nationwide outage. The current GPS constellation consists of 32 satellites and provides signal availability of approximately 99.99 percent.

Despite that impressive track record, Dyer cautioned that localized interference events have become increasingly common. Aviation and maritime operators have reported growing instances of jamming and spoofing, raising concerns about safety and operational reliability.

She urged policymakers to accelerate modernization efforts while strengthening enforcement against illegal interference activities.

A key focus of the hearing was the need for backup systems that could continue providing positioning, navigation and timing services if GPS signals were disrupted.

Among the alternatives discussed was the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS), promoted by Sam Matheny of the National Association of Broadcasters. The system would leverage existing broadcast infrastructure and licensed spectrum to provide resilient positioning and timing services.

Matheny argued that overreliance on GPS creates an economic and national security risk worth billions of dollars per day and that alternative systems could help reduce that vulnerability.

Mariam Sorond, Chief Executive Officer of NextNav, argued that the United States remains behind some of its geopolitical rivals in developing terrestrial backup capabilities.

“China and Russia have built ground-based backups to GPS. The United States has not,” she said.

Calling GPS “a national treasure,” Sorond nevertheless described it as “a single point of failure” and urged policymakers to establish a robust terrestrial backup network capable of supporting critical infrastructure during disruptions.

The hearing also revealed disagreements over proposals involving the lower 900 MHz spectrum band. Consumer advocates, technology companies and industry representatives cautioned that changes to spectrum allocations could interfere with services used by public safety agencies, utilities, transportation networks, retailers and agricultural operations.

Lawmakers stressed that any future backup system must be thoroughly tested, technologically reliable and capable of enhancing resilience without imposing excessive costs on consumers or disrupting existing services.

Originally developed by the US military and later made available for civilian use, GPS today serves billions of users worldwide and supports countless industries, from aviation and telecommunications to logistics, banking and precision agriculture. As threats from electronic warfare and cyber interference continue to evolve, lawmakers agreed that protecting and strengthening the system has become an urgent national priority for the United States.