ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 6000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 20301-6000 JUN 29 2009 NETWORKS AND INFORMATION INTEGRATION MEMORANDUM FOR UNDER SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC, ENERGY AND AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE SUBJECT: Discontinuance of Leap Second The Department of Defense (DoD) supports the establishment and maintenance of a single continuous time scale for the U.S. and within the international community to ensure optimal synchronization, stability, and interoperability among defense, national, international, and commercial positioning, navigation, and timing systems. The establishment of a continuous time scale will require the discontinuation of the insertion of occasional leap seconds that adjust for the long term decrease in the earth's rotation. To allow sufficient time for necessary system modifications to be accomplished, DoD requests the effective date for discontinuation be no earlier than January 1, 2019. The staff point of contact for this action is Raymond Swider at (703) 607-1122, email raymond.swider@osd.mil. /signed/ Cheryl J. Roby Acting