Congress created three commissions in 1999 to assess certain aspects of space activities conducted by the Department of Defense(DOD) and the Intelligence Community(IC). One of these, the Commission To Assess U.S. Natioinal Security Space Management and Organization, was chaired by Donald Rumsfeld and issued its report in January 2001. Now that Mr. Rumsfeld is Secretary of Defense, the conclusions and recommendations of the "Rumsfeld Commission" are expected to receive increased attention. This report provides an overview of the Rumsfeld Commission's report and identifies key issues about the organization and management of national security space activities on which Congress is expected to focus. More information on military space activities, and brief summaries of the reports of the other two commissions(regarding the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency), are in CRS Issue Brief IB92011.
