The U.S. Department of Transportation, which made its PNT Strategic Plan publicly available last week, has rankled a few industry experts because it outlines problems within the program, but passes the baton to others to fix. Another issue is that the publication is dated in December 2024, but was made available only last week—when the Biden administration was almost out the door.

The document says that DoT’s PNT civil lead must addresses the current and future challenges of increased GPS jamming and spoofing. In addition, the federal agency said implementation of cybersecurity protection is critical as cyberattacks emerge.

The document goes into the government-speak of promoting “responsible use” and “risk-based decision-making” by PNT users, especially for critical infrastructure operations. Other challenges include increased reliance on precision timing, spectrum availability for resilient PNT services and the need for standards and international partner agreements.

While the document is worthwhile reading as it allows the industry to know how and what the department is thinking about PNT, things could change quickly—or not, said Dana Goward, Resilient Navigation & Timing Foundation president, in a LinkedIn post.

“It was published by the last administration and the new folks may want to do things differently. That said, we have seen several PNT documents published at the end of administrations, the other party taking control of the White House, and things staying pretty much the same,” Goward said. “The plan continues DOT—and the U.S. government—in the mode of admiring the problem and encouraging others to do things. This is the role career folks at OMB have dictated for decades.”