Description: The U.S. National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is a cabinet-level body that serves as the principal means for the President to coordinate inter-agency efforts in science, space, and technology within the Federal research and development enterprise. Within the NSTC, the United States Group on Earth Observations (USGEO) plans and coordinates inter-agency activities to achieve coordinated and sustained observations of the Earth system through the development of the Integrated Earth Observation System (IEOS), the U.S. contribution to GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems). IEOS will support our country's need for high-quality, global, sustained information on the state of the Earth as a basis for policy and decision making in every sector of our society.

This session will discuss key areas of notable progress in USGEO with a focus on:

•Advancement of a U.S. Earth Observation Integration Framework for Action to ensure that Earth observation capabilities, data, products and services are available in a sustained and timely manner to further U.S. scientific, economic, environmental protection and homeland security interests, and to enable effective domestic and international collaboration in Earth observations.

•Initiation of a comprehensive assessment of critical observing systems capabilities that will highlight national civil Earth observation needs and facilitate the integration of Federal agency observing system investments and environmental information systems to meet those needs.

•Promotion of a service-oriented, standards-based technical architecture to provide interfaces to Earth observing systems to access and improve the value of fully integrated data for decision making and essential governmental services.