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DHS reckons US cops' access
to sat-surveillance is go
Lewis Page
The
Register
Thursday, April 3, 2008
US Homeland Security overlord Michael Chertoff has
told reporters that he believes plans for increased use of satellite
surveillance by American law-enforcement agencies are ready to
move forward. However, Democratic politicians remain unconvinced
that adequate privacy and civil liberties safeguards are in place.
"I think the way is now clear to stand NAO up and go warm,"
said Chertoff, briefing journalists about the proposed National
Applications Office.
NAO would allow US police, immigration, drug-enforcement and
other officials to have access to data from various US satellites
passing above America. It is understood that the information would
be supplied mostly by spacecraft which at the moment are used
for meteorological and geological surveying, or other scientific
tasks. Satellites of this type can often deliver high-resolution
images which would also be useful to law enforcement.
(Article continues below)
Purpose-built US surveillance satellites operated on behalf of
military and intelligence agencies also pass above the US frequently.
However, even the location of such spacecraft is often deemed
to be a secret - for all that it may be well-known to amateur
skywatchers. The capabilities of the true spybirds are even more
jealously guarded, but realistically this information would soon
become common knowledge if ordinary coppers were able to get such
imagery.
Therefore, the new NAO probably won't offer very wide access
- if any - to America's proper sky-spies. But it could provide
a wealth of information all the same, and some US legislators
are concerned about the implications.
Chertoff pooh-poohed such worries, saying that detailed assessments
had been done and that Congresspersons had been briefed. The DHS
chief believed that there's a "good process in place to make
sure there aren't any... transgressions". The DHS has also
pointed out that various feds including the Secret Service* and
FBI have used satellite imagery of the US in various previous
investigations on a case-by-case basis.
Even so, plans for warm erection of the NAO could face a bumpy
ride from Democrat-dominated committees on Capitol Hill.
Coverage of the press briefing is available from CNET here.
®
*Note for non-US readers: While "Secret Service" sounds
like it might be to do with spies, this is not the case in the
States. The Secret Service is part of the Treasury, and does things
like tracking down counterfeiters. It also provides the bodyguards
for prominent US politicians, like the specialist protection branch
of the Met Police in the UK. It seems that the Treasury agents
were the main federal law-enforcement agency in existence when
US presidents started to need close protection, and got the job
by default.
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