Physical, Privacy Limits of domestic spy Satellites Questioned
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Reported by Stew Magnuson and Breanne Wagner
The newly created National Applications Office has a rather mundane, almost Orwellian name, especially since the “application” being referred to is the employment of U.S. military and spy agency satellites in the domestic arena.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the new office during Congress’ August recess. One of its duties will be to serve as a clearinghouse for requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies that want to task remote sensing satellites to gather information on potential terrorists or criminals. Members of the House Homeland Security Committee found out about the office from the pages of the Wall Street Journal instead of department officials, which prompted a hearing on the program within days of their return.
DHS Chief Intelligence Officer Charles Allen attempted to placate lawmakers who were both irked that they weren’t briefed on the program and fearful that the executive branch would step on the Fourth Amendment’s guarantees of privacy.
Part of the problem DHS faces is that the general public doesn’t really know what so-called spy satellites can or cannot do. Hollywood scriptwriters feel no compunction about giving the spacecraft nearly omniscient capabilities. Jack Bauer on the television show 24 — with a few keystrokes — can call up satellites that provide up-close, real-time streaming video.
That is fanciful writing. What they actually can do is classified, though. That, coupled with several high-profile controversies on whether the executive branch has overstepped legal boundaries on domestic surveillance, caused a great deal of consternation at the hearing.
“There are limits of physics,” Allen said “We’re talking about space systems here.”
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), whose 36th district hosts manufacturers of top secret space systems, knows more than the average citizen. She sat for eight years on the House Select Intelligence Committee and was briefed on space-based intelligence gathering systems.
It would “terrify you if you really understood the capability of these satellites,” she said.
Several members speculated that infrared sensors would be used to peer inside citizens’ homes. Police agencies have used land-based infrared devices to carry out random searches for drug labs in the past, but the courts have generally ruled against such tactics.
Allen insisted that only imaging satellites would be used. “It does not penetrate buildings. It does not penetrate homes,” he insisted.
Please email your comments to SMagnuson@ndia.org