Originally Posted by PT6A
Actually as far as I'm aware it is no longer a "gift" of the US Government but rather a few years ago they changed the purpose of the system and it is no longer controlled by the DOD.
It's is still operated by the DoD, although the policies have changed with regard to selective availability and access by non-military users. Originally, the system was intended to be for the the use of the US military with little regard to civil users. That aside, it is still provided and controlled exclusively by the US government. Some may be understandably reluctant to get every other nav system, save one controlled by a foreign (to them) country.