Res Communis

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty
Source: Wall Street Journal

By SIOBHAN GORMAN
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to kill a controversial Bush administration spy satellite program at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials familiar with the decision.
The program came under fire from its inception two years ago. Democratic
Police Chiefs’ Letter to Napolitano
The program would have provided federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery — but no eavesdropping capabilities— to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.
It would have expanded an Interior Department satellite program, which will continue to be used to assist in natural disasters and for other limited security purposes such as photographing sporting events. The Wall Street Journal first revealed the plans to establish the program, known as the National Applications Office, in 2007.
“It’s being shut down,” said a homeland security official.
The Bush administration had taken preliminary steps to launch the office, such as acquiring office space and beginning to hire staff.
The plans to shutter the office signal Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s decision to refocus the department’s intelligence on ensuring that state and local officials get the threat information they need, the official said. She also wants to make the department the central point in the government for receiving and analyzing terrorism tips from around the country, the official added.
Lawmakers alerted Ms. Napolitano of their concerns about the program-that the program would violate the Fourth amendment right to be protected from unreasonable searches-before her confirmation hearing.
Once she assumed her post, Ms. Napolitano ordered a review of the program and concluded the program wasn’t worth pursuing, the homeland official said. Department spokeswoman Amy Kudwa declined to speak about the results of the review but said they would be announced shortly.
The lawmakers were most concerned about plans to provide satellite imagery to state and local law enforcement, so department officials asked state and local officials how useful that information would be to them. The answer: not very useful.
“In our view, the NAO is not an issue of urgency,” Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, wrote to Ms. Napolitano on June 21.
Writing on behalf of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Chief Bratton said that were the program to go forward, the police chiefs would be concerned about privacy protections and whether using military satellites for domestic purposes would violate the Posse Comitatus law, which bars the use of the military for law enforcement in the U.S.

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: CNN

South Korea (CNN) — U.S. satellite imagery has spotted “vehicle activity” at a North Korean ballistic missile site, two Defense Department officials said Friday.

South Korean soldiers ride in armored vehicles during a drill Friday in the border city of Paju.

This activity is similar to that before a long-range missile launch by North Korea earlier this year.

North Korea test-fired a short-range missile Friday off the country’s east coast, a South Korean military source said. It would be the sixth such missile test since the country conducted a nuclear test Monday.

Also Friday, North Korea upbraided the U.N. Security Council for slamming its nuclear test, calling the members of the body “hypocrites” and warning of “stronger self-defense countermeasures” as the world body considers more sanctions against the country.

“There is a limit to our patience,” the Foreign Ministry said in a combative statement.  Watch how the U.S. is responding to the latest launch »

North Korea blasted the Security Council’s condemnations of the nuclear test on Monday and the launch in April of what North Korea called a satellite but other countries called a long-range missile.

The North Korean actions are regarded as violations of Security Council Resolution 1718. Adopted in 2006 after North Korea conducted a nuclear test, the measure imposes sanctions Pyongyang and warns it should “not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile.”

North Korea agreed in 2008 to scrap its nuclear weapons program — which it said had produced enough plutonium for about seven bombs — in exchange for economic aid. But the deal foundered over verification and disclosure issues.

The Security Council has been working on a new and tougher resolution in response to the latest developments.  Watch Hillary Clinton’s warning about “consequences” »

“If the U.N. Security Council will make further provocative actions, this will inevitably lead to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s approach toward adopting stronger self-defensive counter-measures,” the North Korean statement said.

The statement said Resolution 1718 was “fabricated” by “hypocrites.”

“The recent nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the 2,054th one on the Earth. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security council have conducted 99.99 percent of all the nuclear tests,” the statement said.

“Those countries have posed the biggest nuclear threats to the world.”

Noting that it’s not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Missile Technology Control Regime, North Korea said it “has a right to conduct as many nuclear tests or missile launches as it wants in the event that the supreme interests of the state are infringed upon.”

Meanwhile, senior Obama administration officials said a high-level U.S. delegation is going to Asia for a series of “intensive consultations” on what North Korea’s increasingly alarming behavior means for American security alliances in the region.

The goal, they said, is to persuade Pyongyang that going back to the negotiating table is the only option. North Korea has been negotiating over its nuclear program with the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea in six-party talks.

Seriously complicating matters is the health of ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Officials have said nobody knows who is running North Korea, one of the most opaque and mysterious countries in the world. There is also no clear line of succession in place once Kim dies. iReport.com: A visit to North Korea

South Korean and U.S. forces were placed on their second-highest surveillance alert level Thursday, the joint forces announced.

The last time the joint forces raised the “Watchcon” surveillance alert was after the 2006 North Korean nuclear test, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

“Additional intelligence assets, including personnel, will be deployed while reconnaissance operations over North Korea will increase,” South Korean defense spokesman Won Tae-jae said, according to Yonhap. He declined to give specific details, the news agency said.

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

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by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: GovernmentExecutive.com

The Obama administration has not provided sufficient detail to justify its ambitious plan to buy and launch spy satellites, raising concerns that billions of taxpayer dollars could be put at risk with no guarantee of success, according to lawmakers, sources and government reports.

Some critics say more than $10 billion could be put at unnecessary risk over the next decade when smaller, less expensive satellites, unmanned drones and other aerial assets could be just as effective, if not more so.

Critics also say this is the third time in 12 years the government has drafted plans to overhaul the country’s aging constellation of spy satellites. A plan proposed in 1997, called Future Imagery Architecture, was killed in 2005 amid reports of mismanagement and skyrocketing costs. More recently, sources said, another plan was terminated.

House Intelligence Technical and Tactical Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman C.A. (Dutch) Ruppersberger, D-Md., said in an interview his panel was not adequately consulted on the Obama team’s plan, adding that he is not sold on it.

Ruppersberger will play a key role in approving it, as he also sits on the House Appropriations Committee. He said it appears as if the administration adopted a plan that was put together under the Bush administration.

Senior intelligence officials declined to comment on the latest acquisition strategy, saying it is being finalized. But they said they expect to begin awarding contracts soon.

Once the acquisition strategy is in place, it is expected to set off industry and lobbying battles as major defense companies compete for prime contracts and subcontractors line up to get a piece of the action.

A central part of the plan also calls for buying more commercial space imagery in the short-term from U.S. companies like DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., and GeoEye of Dulles, Va. A member of GeoEye’s board of directors sat on a panel that helped craft the plan, though sources said the panel did not have anything to do with the proposal to buy more commercial imagery.

Although the world economy began to nosedive in 2008, the global space industry saw remarkable growth and increased revenues to $257 billion, according to a report from the nonprofit Space Foundation. U.S. agencies spent about $67 billion on space activities last year, the report said.

But funding for the Obama administration’s new space plan faces significant hurdles in Congress.

He pointed to a report drafted by his subcommittee in October that included recommendations on how to prevent cost overruns and schedule delays in building new spy satellites.

Ruppersberger said he wants to ensure the administration’s proposal meets the needs of intelligence and defense users, along with NASA.

“I think to put out a plan like this, and we have to ultimately fund it, we need more input and we need to address the issues contained in my report,” he said.

Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., told Obama and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair in recent letters that he believes the plan is fundamentally flawed.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also laid out her concerns in a letter to Obama, but her office would not release it, saying it is classified.

Senior intelligence officials defend the plan, saying it represents the best value for the nation and will meet the full spectrum of needs across the U.S. government.

They deny the plan is too risky or will rely on unproven technology. One official said the systems will be funded based on independent cost estimates and procured using the best government practices.

Officials from GeoEye and DigitalGlobe said they were encouraged that the government will buy more commercial imagery. But they, too, need detailed information before they know exactly how much imagery will be bought and over what timeframe.

DigitalGlobe spent just over $1 million in 2008 and 2007 lobbying Congress and the executive branch on “issues relating to [the] nation’s use of commercial satellite imagery and remote sensing,” according to the firm’s lobbying disclosure reports filed with the Senate.

GeoEye spent $400,000 lobbying over the past two years on defense appropriations and authorizations to “sustain government support for commercial space imagery,” records show.

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: National Sea Grant Law Center

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