The Associated Press October 9, 2001
Spy planes, satellites aid military planning
By KEN GUGGENHEIM
WASHINGTON -- Sophisticated spy planes and satellites offer U.S. forces vivid images of their targets in Afghanistan and the resistance they may face, intelligence analysts said Monday. Advances in broadband communications and computer technology mean that soldiers in the field can use laptop computers to get the latest images of the targets right before an attack.
"They are not going to conduct any operations without using satellite imagery to understand where every house and hill is in the area," said John Pike, a military specialist with GlobalSecurity.org, a think tank in Alexandria, Va. But it is unclear how helpful these images will be as U.S. forces hunt down Osama bin Laden and fight the Taliban rulers who have protected him. Although satellites provide greater coverage and clearer images than ever before, they are of limited use in a manhunt.
"This isn't perfect by any means," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Weather remains a problem. We're talking small, scattered targets. Very often only human intelligence can tell us who is in a building." But he said that not knowing whether they could be caught by spy imagery could keep U.S. targets in hiding. "For them to move, to use their military forces, to occupy any facility exposes them to the risk we'll detect it," he said.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
