U.S. Expands Access To Spy Satellites
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Law enforcement, emergency response, and border control agencies have won greater access to the nation’s spy satellites and other sensors to monitor American territory.
The sharing of imagery and data will be especially useful in policing land and sea borders and in disaster planning, Charles Allen, the Department of Homeland Security’s chief intelligence officer, said in a phone interview yesterday.
The effort may eventually support domestic law enforcement activities as well, he said, but the legal guidelines for that are still being worked out.
At least 11 domestic agencies have had access to limited amounts of spy satellite imagery for the last 30 years, mostly on a case-by-case basis.
Such imagery has been used to monitor national disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. It also could be used to map evacuation routes prior to anticipated disasters, or to identify patterns of illegal movement across borders.
The CIA and Pentagon are generally prohibited from spying on American citizens, and Mr. Allen stressed that the new data-sharing effort doesn’t violate that ban.
