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CNN LIVE FROM... 14:30 ET August 17, 2005

New Spy Strategies to Prevent Terror?

WHITFIELD: Well, leaders of the 9/11 Commission have said they did not have enough information on the Able Danger claims to consider them to be, quote, "historically significant."

Before September 11, the U.S. intelligence leaned heavily on technology, especially satellite. But some experts say the war on terrorism requires more than just eyes in the sky. They want a renewed emphasis on human spies.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Spy satellites peering down on the Soviet Union were terrific assets for U.S. intelligence during the Cold war but they have proved much less useful against Al Qaeda terrorists and Iraqi insurgents.

Now, John Negroponte, the nation's director of national intelligence, must decide whether to endorse plans for about $40 billion worth of new surveillance satellites. Many intelligence professionals expect him instead to make cuts, spend more on unmanned aerial vehicles like the Global Hawk and on old-fashioned human spies on the ground, now a top priority for the U.S. government.

LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FMR. POWELL CHIEF OF STAFF: What did satellites tell us about Iraq? Nothing that was true that I can see. And I've been there.

ENSOR: Lawrence Wilkerson was Colin Powell's right-hand man when he was secretary of state.

WILKERSON: What happened in Afghanistan was so effective. CIA people walking around with briefcases full of money. Well, $40 billion is a lot of money. Let's fill some briefcases, let's go buy some people.

ENSOR: Even a small percentage of that money would buy a lot of people.

JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: That's a lot of bribery and spies to increase our human intelligence capabilities. That would be relevant to fighting terrorism in a way that reconnaissance satellites simply couldn't be.

ENSOR: But the decision is difficult. The new spy satellites could give the nation remarkable new capabilities.

KEITH HALL, FMR. DIR., NATL. RECON. OFFICE: There'll be more imagery available from them, all done on a smaller-sized satellite.

ENSOR: One type known as Future Imagery Architecture would make extraordinarily crisp digital pictures of ever smaller objects on earth and add still better radar for gazing through clouds and to see what's happening at night.

Another highly classified type known to outside experts as the Misty Follow-On project would, they say, deploy tiny satellites, the size of a large TV or a small refrigerator.

PIKE: This new satellite would be so small and so stealthy, it would simply blend into the space debris and there'll be no way to tell it from the other 10,000 pieces of space junk.

ENSOR: Why would that help? In any future war, the enemy would not know how to blind U.S. intelligence.

PIKE: The concern that the intelligence community would have would be that if we got into a war with, say, China, they would be able to shoot down our non-stealthy spy satellite and basically put our eyes out.

ENSOR: At a recent hearing, Negroponte's deputy promised he'll make a choice by the end of September.

(on camera): If Negroponte decides to cut billions for spy satellites and spend more on lower-tech intelligence as many observers expect, the stage could be set for a battle with the Pentagon and its congressional allies who want to see all the satellite surveillance capability that they can get.

(voice-over): It would be a key test, too, of whether the president trusts John Negroponte on intelligence matters or whether he really prefers the Pentagon's Donald Rumsfeld. David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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