[privacy] U.S. to Expand Domestic Use Of Spy Satellites

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118714764716998275.html?mod=technology_main_
whats_news

U.S. to Expand Domestic Use Of Spy Satellites
By ROBERT BLOCK
August 15, 2007; Page A1

The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of
federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the
nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.

The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence
Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most
powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security
officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate
access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law
enforcement.

Until now, only a handful of federal civilian agencies, such as the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have
had access to the most basic spy-satellite imagery, and only for the purpose
of scientific and environmental study.

According to officials, one of the department's first objectives will be to
use the network to enhance border security, determine how best to secure
critical infrastructure and help emergency responders after natural
disasters. Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can
aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and
civil law. The department is still working on determining how it will engage
law enforcement officials and what kind of support it will give them.

Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow
Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time,
high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to
identify smuggler staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a
building being used by would-be terrorists to manufacture chemical weapons.

Overseas -- the traditional realm of spy satellites -- the system was used
to monitor tank movements during the Cold War. Today, it's used to monitor
suspected terrorist hideouts, smuggling routes for weapons in Iraq, nuclear
tests and the movement of nuclear materials, as well as to make detailed
maps for U.S. soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.

...


_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy