Security: U.S. Reconnaissance Satellites: Domestic Targets

Source: National Security Archive
Published with the permission of National Security Archive

Documents Describe Use of Satellites in Support of Civil Agencies

On August 15, 2007, the Wall Street Journal disclosed that the United States was planning to expand its use of reconnaissance satellites over the United States in support of civil agencies, in response to recommendations by an independent study group. The term "civil agencies" refers to agencies outside of the Defense Department and Intelligence Community - agencies which may have domestic or foreign missions, or both.

One manifestation of the increased reliance on satellites in support of civil agencies is the establishment, effective on October 1, of the National Applications Office (NAO) within the Department of Homeland Security. The organization and functions of the NAO were detailed in a DHS fact sheet, also released on August 15.

The use of classified satellite reconnaissance systems - particularly imagery systems - to image targets in the United States has a lineage almost as old as the satellite reconnaissance program itself. One purpose was to allow the operators of U.S. spy satellites to determine the satellite's actual capabilities, particularly with regard to resolution, by photographing targets of known dimensions. In addition, obtaining overhead views of particular types of facilities - both military and industrial - helped imagery interpreters to develop imagery interpretation keys. Those keys provided interpreters with an understanding of what a particular type of facility would look from directly overhead Thus, a 1967 document addressed to the head of the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance contains a list of domestic targets restricted to military and industrial sites.

But some civil agencies were also early users of satellite reconnaissance imagery - particularly that from versions of the KH-4 CORONA system (which included the KH-4, KH-4A, and KH-4B) and the KH-5 ARGON mapping system. The U.S. Geological Survey even established a special facility to exploit the satellite imagery it was provided to help it perform its mapping mission. Another early recipient was the Office of Emergency Preparedness, which requested imagery of the hundred-plus relocation sites controlled by the office. (Document 6) Such imagery was collected during "engineering passes" of the satellite over the U.S. - that is, during the first days after launch when the system was being tested, before being declared operational and ready for use against foreign targets.

In an attempt to establish a forum to facilitate the use of satellite reconnaissance imagery for civil purposes, the ARGO program was established in 1968 - whose participants included, but were not limited to, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, the Agency for International Development, and the Department of Agriculture. Also participating were key Intelligence Community agencies - the National Reconnaissance Office, National Photographic Interpretation Center, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation.

Despite the desire to expand the use of satellite imagery, there were still impediments to its full exploitation - including the need for highly trained interpretation skills, facilities to protect the data, inertia within potential civil users, the question as to who would pay for the cost of a civil applications program, and concerns that civil agency demands might compromise the primary foreign intelligence collection mission.

In 1973, the question of whether a civil applications subcommittee of COMIREX should be established was raised in a memo (Document 14b) from national security adviser Henry Kissinger. In 1975, the commission chaired by Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller, chartered to investigate CIA activities within the United States, recommended establishing just such a civil applications committee to enhance the effort. The result was a memorandum of agreement between Kissinger (in his role as national security adviser), the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Director of Central Intelligence created a Civil Applications Committee, located within the Department of the Interior, and chaired by the director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Eleven departments and independent agencies would be represented on the committee. Included were the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (or its predecessors) - to detect violation of environmental regulations and in support of disaster relief operations respectively.

Before assuming the vice-presidency in 1993, Al Gore had discussed with then-Director of Central Intelligence Robert Gates the possibility of establishing a program for the exploitation of data already obtained by a variety of classified sensors - from reconnaissance satellites to the Navy's Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) underwater hydrophones - to address environmental issues. In 1994 an Environmental Task Force appointed by the DCI examined whether classified data could be profitably used to address environmental questions. (Document 20) That examination produced the MEDEA program - under which specially cleared scientists, many outside of the government, were given access to classified data sets that could be used to examine issues such as deforestation.

In addition to the MEDEA effort there were additional efforts made to make data from missile launch detection and imagery satellites available to aid in the detection of fires and volcanic activity. Thus, the infrared sensors on Defense Support Program satellites could detect and locate the dimensions of forest fires, while imagery satellites could periodically photograph volcanoes to produce imagery that could be used to look for signs of activity.

Subsequent to 9/11, there were suggestions both by individual Congressmen such as Norman Dicks (D-WA), and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that current NRO systems could be used in support of homeland security missions. Those sentiments were echoed in the 2005 report, the Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study (Document 27) , by an independent study group chaired by former NRO chief Keith Hall.

The committee recommended replacing the CAC with a Domestic Applications Office within DHS - a recommendation that was approved in a May 2007 memo from the Director of National Intelligence, with the office given a less revealing name - the National Applications Office.
The August 2007 press revelations produced concern both from civil liberties groups and members of Congress - who were concerned with plans to move beyond uncontroversial domestic uses for use in law-enforcement activities. Homeland security uses could include monitoring the border, studying infrastructure and mapping cities for special events to prepare security plans. Potential law-enforcement uses include monitoring a house or compound occupied by terrorists or other law enforcement targets (e.g. the Branch Davidians), searching for drug production facilities, examining crime scenes, and support to the FBI and local enforcement in their effort to provide security for national special security events (including political conventions and major sporting events).

The past is not devoid of examples of use of satellite imagery for homeland security and law enforcement purposes and the confrontation of some of the issues involved. In 2006, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency provided the FBI imagery of the area in Pittsburgh where the Major League All-Star game was to be held on July 11, as it had to the Olympics Intelligence Center at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Reconnaissance satellites have reportedly been used to produce images of the Unabomber's cabin and the land surrounding it, to count boat traffic at three specially protected sites along the Florida Keys, to examine civil disturbances in Detroit in the 1960s and to develop investigative leads for the EPA. The latter caused some concern at the CIA about the propriety of providing imagery that would aid EPA investigations.

There are a number of concerns that are likely to be part of the current debate - the Posse Comitatus prohibition of using the military for law-enforcement (since the agency which operates U.S. reconnaissance satellites is part of the Defense Department), and a generalized fear of government spying exacerbated by portrayals in popular culture (Enemy of the State, 24) of satellites that can track individuals. In addition, there is the issue of possible violations of Fourth Amendment limitations on searches. While surveillance employing visible-light optical systems would not seem to be an issue, the possibility of employing other sensors - including radar and infrared imagery sensors, as well as measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) sensors (including multispectral and hyperspectral sensors, and non-imaging infrared sensors) - may run afoul of the Supreme Court's Kyllo decision, which overturned a conviction that followed police employment of a thermal imaging system to detect heat sources within an individual's house that indicated ongoing production of an illicit drug.

A large number of documents can be read in PDF format

Notes
1. Robert Block, "U.S. to Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites," Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2007, pp. A1, A9.
2. Jeffrey T. Richelson, "Scientists in Black," Scientific American, February 1998.
3. U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report 107-149, To Authorize Appropriations for Intelligence and Intelligence-Related Activities of the United States Government, The Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for Other Purposes, May 13, 2002, p. 21.
4 . Block, "U.S. to Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites."
5. William Mullen, "NGA Expands Customer Base for Special-Security Events," Pathfinder, July/August 2006, pp. 18-19.
6. Nancy Gibbs, "Tracking Down the Unabomber," Time, April 15, 1996, pp. 38-41; Allan Sloan, "Big Brother Strikes Again," Forbes, May 12, 1980, pp. 50-51.