Defense & Aerospace Report DEFAERO Strategy Series [Feb 18, 26] Retired Admiral Mike Rogers on America's Unpreparedness for a GPS Attack
Feb 18, 2026
Mike Rogers, retired U.S. Navy admiral and former NSA and U.S. Cyber Command director, now advising cybersecurity firm Claroty. He lays out how GPS went from military tool to critical economic infrastructure. He describes jamming, spoofing, physical and orbital threats. He argues replacement is unrealistic and discusses augmenting GPS with 4G/5G, spectrum policy, and the stakes for autonomous systems.
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GPS Is A Foundational Economic Backbone
- GPS began as a military timing and navigation system but now underpins huge economic and societal systems.
- Mike Rogers warns that this widespread dependency creates systemic vulnerability if GPS fails.
Airport Disruptions From GPS Interference
- Mike Rogers recounts GPS disruptions at major U.S. airports like Denver and Dallas that forced slower, spread-out air operations.
- Those incidents show how loss of GPS degrades aviation safety and capacity rapidly.
GPS Vulnerabilities Span An Ecosystem
- GPS can be attacked across an ecosystem: satellites, control stations, and receivers.
- Rogers notes original GPS design assumed benign orbit conditions, which no longer holds.