NGA wants flight, sea data offline

Officials at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) will seek public comment through June on their proposal to remove from public access all of the agency's aeronautic and navigational data and publications.

NGA officials want to take this action starting next October, according to a Dec. 2 agency statement.

"The agency is considering this action principally because increased numbers of foreign source providers are claiming intellectual property rights or are forewarning NGA that they intend to copyright their source," the statement reads.

Officials first announced the idea in the Federal Register on Nov. 18.

NGA officials want to remove from public sale and distribution three types of data and publications now available through the agency's Web site. They include the military's Navigational Planning Charts, the Flight Information Publications that consist of planning documents, en route supplements and terminal instrument procedures, and the Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File, a database of military-selected aeronautical data.

These files and publications come from a combination of data from military sensors and systems with information from allied countries and private foreign companies.

NGA officials want to make the data and publications available only through the Defense Department's distribution system. They plan to make it available to officials at federal and state agencies and authorized contractors and international agencies, said the NGA statement.

Send comments to aero.ocr@nga.mil.