Congressional Quarterly September 30, 2007
Commercial Satellite Imaging Closing In on Military Capabilities
By Eleanor Stables
The Department of Homeland Security will delay a program to expand domestic satellite surveillance to answer lawmakers’ questions regarding the program’s impact on civil liberties and privacy.
DHS had intended to launch a new National Applications Office at the beginning of October, but is “holding off on that formal launching until all the questions that Congress has have been answered,” department spokesman Andrew Lluberes said in an interview. “We’re fully confident that this is going to go forward and we will be able to satisfy and answer all of Congress’ questions” on civil liberties and privacy, he said.
House Homeland Security Committee Democrats asked appropriators on Sept. 26 to freeze funding for the new office (See related story, CQ Today, Sept. 26, 2007). DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis, which will include the new office, has a classified budget, Lluberes said. The capabilities of military satellites are also classified, but those of commercial satellites are not.
DHS Chief Intelligence Officer Charles Allen said at a Sept. 6 hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee that a lot of “non-defense users . . . will be satisfied by commercial imagery” rather than military satellites’ imagery. “Commercial imagery is a growing industry and it has . . . capabilities that are reaching and approximating those of classified imagery satellites, and there are many waiting to be launched around the world.”
Mark Brender, spokesman for GeoEye satellite company, said in an interview that because commercial satellite imagery is unclassified, it “can be easily shared with state and local governments and police chiefs and authorities up and down the chain of command.”
GeoEye’s satellite can see objects as small as three feet, and the company plans to launch a second satellite next spring that will be able to see objects as small as 16 inches. Military satellites likely have better resolution, Brender said. GeoEye’s satellite cannot see at night or through clouds or houses and cannot identify individuals, he said.
The commercial satellite technology is an “ideal tool to better understand what changes have happened on the ground after a disaster,” such as a hurricane, explosion, or shipping accident, according to Brender. It can also map the border, ports and airports; potentially detect a tunnel under the border by seeing earth disturbances or unusual vegetation patterns; and help the Coast Guard zero in on a ship’s location, he added.
Digital Globe, another major satellite company, launched its second satellite in September and plans a third in late 2008. The new satellite has a resolution of about 20 inches and circles the globe every 1.7 days, according to a press release.
John Pike, a space expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org, said in an interview that satellites could be used in post-hurricane damage assessments when weather is too bad to use airplanes. Up-to-date maps are also key in post-attack planning as construction and new roads can alter access routes, he said. Military satellites lack the resolution to identify individuals but can see through clouds and in the dark, according to Pike. Also, most people lack a unique identifying characteristic when viewed from above, and satellites constantly rotate the earth and are not long in one location.
Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s program on technology and liberty, said in an interview that while military satellites’ capabilities are largely unknown, they can identify people “and then the question is what are they likely to be capable of in the near future.”
Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said in an interview the use of satellite technology could have some useful homeland security applications, “but that’s a decision that ought to be reached openly and above board.”
© Copyright 2007, Congressional Quarterly Inc.
