Elimination of the degradation feature, called "selective availability," means civilian users of GPS will be able to pinpoint locations up to 10 times more accurately than before. The White House had said it would seek to eliminate the feature entirely by 2006, but concluded that U.S. national security would not be harmed by moving sooner.

GPS signals have been degraded since the satellite service became operational in the 1980s to prevent the use of the navigation data for weapon targeting and other military uses.

"Along with our commitment to enhance GPS for peaceful applications, my administration is committed to preserving fully the military utility of GPS," President Clinton said. "The decision to discontinue selective availability is coupled with our continuing efforts to upgrade the military utility of our systems that use GPS, and is supported by threat assessments which conclude that setting selective availability to zero at this time would have minimal impact on national security."

Making the decision easier, the White House also said the Pentagon has "demonstrated the capability to selectively deny GPS signals on a regional basis when our national security is threatened."