1. What is GPS - who owns/controls it? (see "Background" below)

2. Why are monitor stations necessary for GPS?

3. a) What deal is the U.S. State Department set to make with Russia?
b) Who opposes this deal? Why?

4. Why is Russia asking the State Department to permit their monitoring stations to be installed in the U.S.?

5. Who else in the U.S. government is opposed to the State Department's deal with Russia? What are they asking for?

6. From paragraphs 20-21: "CIA analysts reviewed the proposal and concluded in a classified report this fall that allowing the Russian monitor stations here would raise counterintelligence and other security issues. The State Department does not think that is a strong argument, said an Obama administration official. 'It doesn’t see them as a threat.'"
Who would know better? Who do you think is the expert here: the CIA (the spy agency) or the State Department (diplomats)?
In this case, who appears to be working for the country's best interests?

7. From paragraph 5: "For the State Department, permitting Russia to build the stations would help mend the Obama administration’s relationship with the government of President Vladimir Putin, now at a nadir [the worst or lowest point they could ever be at] because of Moscow’s granting asylum to Edward Snowden (who leaked NSA surveillance info) and its backing of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria."
Should the Obama administration give Russia permission to install monitoring stations in the U.S. to improve relations with Russia, which are the lowest point they could be at due to Russia's own actions? Explain your answer.

8. Based on Russia's reasons for wanting their monitor stations in the U.S., and the CIA and Pentagon's reasons for opposing Russian monitor stations in the U.S., what do you think the Obama administration should do? (What is more important: establishing "better" relations with Russia by giving them what they want, or listening to the CIA's concerns?)