Air Force Times August 26, 2002
Web site views of U.S. base disturb service members
Government clears satellite images, industry says
By Vince Crawley
Times Staff Writer
 Al Udeid Airbase, Qatar |
American service members all over the globe are being watched from outer space, whether they like it or not.
Internet surfers in early August discovered startlingly clear satellite photos of a new, little-known U.S. base in Qatar, al-Udeid Air Base, complete with parked aircraft, command posts, trucks and a tent city big enough for 3,800 personnel.
The discovery sparked dismay among some service members concerned about security.
"These sites, run by Americans, are doing advanced satellite, imaging and mapping surveillance work . on behalf of al-Qaida, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or any other terrorist, or hostile foreign power," one Air Force Times reader said.
"I hope you are pleased with yourselves and are arrested, jailed and executed as spies," fumed a visitor to the Web site where the pictures were posted.
But experts say these bird's-eye views are an irreversible fact of modern life and suggest service members should take security and deception actions to thwart the 400-mile-high surveillance.
John Pike, the defense watchdog who posts the images on his site, http://www.GlobalSecurity.org, points out that the pictures have been cleared by the U.S. security teams with tight control over the commercial satellite industry. The two U.S. companies flying the satellites, Space Imaging and Digital Globe, work closely with the federal government and can have their licenses pulled if they violate national security, Pike said.
Al-Udeid Air Base may have been a mystery to many Americans, but it's no secret in Qatar. "In Qatar, everyone's knows it's there," Pike said. Local Qataris "are always bragging about it, and everyone has a cousin who works there."
Many military people can get a false sense of security in remote areas, he said. "They think, 'We're way out in the middle of the desert, and nobody knows we're there.' And that's not true."
Instead, he said commanders and service members should take satellites into account when crafting force-protection plans.
Troops have put up camouflage netting to thwart high-altitude aerial photography for generations. "When you look at al-Udeid, you can definitely see where they put out camouflage nets," Pike said. "I can show you where the camouflage nets are, but I don't know what's underneath."
Similarly, in the al-Udeid pictures, "I can show you trucks," he said. "But I don't know if they're real . or inflatable."
The commercial satellites show objects between 0.6 and 1 meter square. This means they would show individual human beings in only the rarest cases and even then they'd be blurry blobs.
Pike said his Web site had about 250,000 hits, double the usual, the week he posted the al-Udeid pictures. However, tall year he's been posting satellite imagery of areas he considers newsworthy, including the Jenin Refugee camp in Palestine and downtown Mogadishu, Somalia.
While he has shown other U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf, most of his images depict Iraq. In mid-August, views included detailed images of Baghdad, including presidential palaces with huge swimming pools and well-appointed condos of high-ranking Iraqi officials.
Space Imaging has flown the Ikonos satellite since 2000, and Digital Globe's Quickbird went operational early this year.
Steve Wood, director of defense marketing for Digital Globe, said many company employees are former military and take very seriously public concerns about disclosing potential national secrets. In frequent meetings with military officials, company members often point out security concerns uncovered by satellites.
Executives of both companies say their industry received congressional approval and federal oversight so that U.S. companies can compete and maintain a lead in the global marketplace while keeping the technology within reach of U.S. security agencies.
In fact, the federal government is their largest customer. In the Afghanistan war, the U.S. government bought all the Central Asian photos form the Ikonos satellite. They've since been released to the public and are for sale.
Customers seeking to purchase imagery are checked against four federal databases that are updated daily to screen for potential enemies or terrorists, Digital Globe officials said.
Digital Globe's federal license requires delaying release of high-resolution pictures for at least 24 hours. In practice, most images take far longer to reach customers. The images of al-Udeid, for example were between 2 and 8 months old when they were made public.
Mark Brender, executive director of government affairs for Space Imaging, said his company's Ikonos pictures in no way harmed U.S. security.
"A 6-month-old image of an airfield that has been well publicized is not compromising any element of surprise," he said. "Just the opposite - it sends a signal of strength and resolve."
© Copyright 2002 Military Times Media Group
