The two existing answers are great, but they do not mention that the reason this data was initially made available was due to a law passed by Congress back in 2003. This page, although it's very out of date now, does a good job explaining the beginning of it: https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/notice.php

The post begins:

As a result of legislation passed by the US Congress and signed into law on 2003 November 24 (Public Law 108-136, Section 913), Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has embarked on a three-year pilot program to provide space surveillance data—including NORAD two-line element sets (TLEs)—to non-US government entities (NUGE). This service was to be established "not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment" of Section 913 or by 2004 May 22 (paragraph (i)). AFSPC officials have indicated that the NASA OIG web site—which is the source of CelesTrak's data—would be operated until 2004 October 1 (less than two months from today) to allow users to get the information necessary to plan their transition to this new data service. This transition time is extremely important because Public Law 108-136 prohibits the redistribution of the data obtained from this new NUGE service "without the express approval of the Secretary" [of Defense] (paragraph (d)(2)).

It continues and includes several updates that can be read there.

The two existing answers are great, but they do not mention that the reason this data was initially made available was due to a law passed by Congress back in 2003. This page, although it's very out of date now, does a good job explaining the beginning of it: https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/notice.php

The post begins:

As a result of legislation passed by the US Congress and signed into law on 2003 November 24 (Public Law 108-136, Section 913), Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has embarked on a three-year pilot program to provide space surveillance data—including NORAD two-line element sets (TLEs)—to non-US government entities (NUGE). This service was to be established "not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment" of Section 913 or by 2004 May 22 (paragraph (i)). AFSPC officials have indicated that the NASA OIG web site—which is the source of CelesTrak's data—would be operated until 2004 October 1 (less than two months from today) to allow users to get the information necessary to plan their transition to this new data service. This transition time is extremely important because Public Law 108-136 prohibits the redistribution of the data obtained from this new NUGE service "without the express approval of the Secretary" [of Defense] (paragraph (d)(2)).

It continues and includes several updates that can be read there.

The two existing answers are great, but they do not mention that the reason this data was initially made available was due to a law passed by Congress back in 2003. This page, although it's very out of date now, does a good job explaining the beginning of it: https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/notice.php

The two existing answers are great, but they do not mention that the reason this data was initially made available was due to a law passed by Congress back in 2003. This page, although it's very out of date now, does a good job explaining the beginning of it: https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/notice.php

The post begins:

As a result of legislation passed by the US Congress and signed into law on 2003 November 24 (Public Law 108-136, Section 913), Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) has embarked on a three-year pilot program to provide space surveillance data—including NORAD two-line element sets (TLEs)—to non-US government entities (NUGE). This service was to be established "not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment" of Section 913 or by 2004 May 22 (paragraph (i)). AFSPC officials have indicated that the NASA OIG web site—which is the source of CelesTrak's data—would be operated until 2004 October 1 (less than two months from today) to allow users to get the information necessary to plan their transition to this new data service. This transition time is extremely important because Public Law 108-136 prohibits the redistribution of the data obtained from this new NUGE service "without the express approval of the Secretary" [of Defense] (paragraph (d)(2)).

It continues and includes several updates that can be read there.