; Public Law 113–66 ) required the Secretary of Defense to conduct an evaluation of options and alternatives for future sensor architectures for ballistic missile defense in order to enhance the ballistic missile defense capabilities of the United States. (5) General John Hyten, Commander of the United States Strategic Command, has argued for the deployment of a global space-based sensor system with discrimination capability as a critical component to improving the effectiveness of our deployed interceptors to conduct both the characterization of these new threats … as well as discriminate better and earlier the mid-course element of the threat that exists today , and finally to target against … hypersonic capabilities [and] other capabilities in the boost phase. . (6) General O’Shaughnessy, Commander of the United States Northern Command, stated that— (A) A space-based sensor network will provide far greater coverage, survivability, and persistence—all of which are necessary to maintaining confidence in our ability to deter, detect, and defeat missile threats to the homeland. ; (B) We must take prudent steps now to ensure our next generation defensive capabilities to include a space-based sensing layer [are] not late to need. ; and (C) The space-based sensing layer … is of the highest urgency [and] that we gain that capability as soon as possible because our adversaries are actively developing these weapons as we speak. . (7) General Samuel Greaves, a former Director of the Missile Defense Agency, has stated that— (A) space provides the critical vantage point necessary to address rapidly advancing threats across multiple regions of interest and the only vantage point for global persistence to address warfighter requirements