Congressman Jim Bridenstine was elected in 2012 to represent Oklahoma’s first district. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. He is a key advocate for the greater use of commercial satellite capacity to help warfighters.
In an exclusive interview with Via Satellite, Bridenstine emphasizes the critical importance of space, particularly for the warfighter. “This is the role of the United States, but it is also a role for our friends and allies around the world. But to [Via Satellite’s] audience I would say that if we want security for our future, we need to pay attention to what our competitors are doing and thinking, and stay ahead of them. Space is critical,” he says.
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“We need to develop the Protected Tactical Waveform for encryption and anti-jam capabilities. If the WGS and commercial satellites can operate at that point, they will be operating like a bent pipe. The signal needs to be protected,” he says.
Throughput, Throughput, Throughput
“We shouldn’t be purchasing MHz of spectrum. What we need to purchase as a government is a way to figure out the cost per Gbps. We need to get a better value of Gbps. That is the key,” he says.
“They are competing against each other in the ways that the government does not compete against each other. They ultimately end up being better and cheaper. We are seeing that right now with commercial industry. Global satellite operators such as SES, Intelsat and ViaSat are operating satellites which can be seen as superior to what the DOD owns and operates as far as throughput,” he says.
Political Nervousness
Bridenstine says that while the debate between milsatcom versus commercial satcom will continue, such debate is “pointless.” He adds, “What we need to do is start talking about satellite communications, and not whether it is milsatcom or commercial satcom. What we need to do is figure out the architecture to give the warfighter what they need.”
Cybersecurity
Bridenstine believes that part of protecting information in cyber-space requires numerous paths in which the information flows. “I would say that the argument shouldn’t be whether commercial satellite systems are secure enough. I would say the argument should be how do we create a more robust network architecture with more paths that make it more difficult for the enemy to interrupt information flows?” VS
