Addresses the historical evolution of U.S. commercial remote sensing policy. This paper describes the current legal, regulatory, and policymaking environment, and places it within an international and comparative context. It addresses the status of U.S. industry. It provides information on NOAA-supported policy and market studies, which have been done to better characterize the remote sensing industry for informed regulatory decision-making. Finally, the paper describes current issues to be addressed and possible future directions for U.S. policy and the industry as a whole.