Over the last generation, the U.S. national security community has re-examined its mix of domestic and foreign military bases. In contrast to the post-World War II era, current American doctrine favors agile, rapidly deployed force structures over permanent basing of troops and their equipment in overseas garrisons. At home, economic and political imperatives during the same period resulted in the BRAG (Base Realignment and Closure) process to reduce military-owned and -encamped real estate and to bring military domestic base structures in line with modern needs. In national security space, a similar debate is under way. The "ownership" of a space asset, unlike real estate on Earth, is limited to the functional lifetime of an individual space system, or, in satellite communications, the duration and conditions of an authorization to operate space hardware at specific orbital locations and within certain frequency ranges.
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