Anatomy of a Spy Satellite

space.com ^ | January 3, 2005 | Leonard David

[Paradox]

Cool stuff, its a shame some have decided to make politics of such things.. but not surprising.

[stuartcr]

For more info, just do a search on misty+nro.

[glorgau]

its a shame some have decided to make politics of such things..

It's all politics. Especially when it comes to the taxpayer's dollars.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Nice to see Space.com providing some balanced statements from sources opposite CDI and FAS <\ sarcasm>

[RKV]

"But given the "outing" of MISTY into the public forum, has national security been compromised?"

YES. If you or I had done a stunt like this we would be in jail. The AF security guys were quite explicit when they explained it to me when I held a clearance. I guess some are more equal than others.

[RKV]

When I was a Vandenburg we never ever talked about NRO outside of the scif. It was a "need to know" topic. I was there at an air show last month and they even handed out plastic cups with the NRO logo on them. Times have changed.

[YOUGOTIT]

And why are these TRAITORS still in the US Senate. Anyone who discloses classified information should be put in jail just like you and I would if we were to disclose classified information.

[stuartcr]

They certainly have. The first time I had a polygraph, they said to never mention the code word to anyone...I later did a search on the code word itself, and came up with about a 1/2 dozen websites!!

[RKV]

My son and I visited the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian two years ago and they had an exhibit on Corona (an early satellite reconaissance project). Unbelievable. Actual satellite FILM from the bird. Blew me away.

[TruthNtegrity]

I know you and I can't say much to add to this discussion, believing as we do in our oaths to never reveal classified information.

But on the offchance that you didn't know about this thread, here's a PING!

[TruthNtegrity]

If there is a policy lesson to be derived from all of this, Aftergood concluded, "I think it is that the integrity of the intelligence oversight process has to be strengthened. Among other things, that means reducing unnecessary budget secrecy, and curtailing industry advocacy on classified programs."

What? Funding for black contracts should be published, therefore announcing all the projects? Uh-huh, I don't think so.

There is a classified portion of the DoD budget for a reason and it needs to stay that way.

[ASA Vet]

MI Ping

Tip off by TruthNtegrity.
Tks.

[NY Attitude]

It is unfortunate that this occurs. But when Senators and Congress people go to parties and meet other people in gymnasiums, karate studios and such, there common sense goes away. This occurred on a program that I was involved in and a Senator happened to relate all of the information regarding this program, code words were included. This information was published in a well known newspaper. The reporter of course was never taken to task for this breach of security and neither was the Senator.

[Kerfuffle]

Yea, well, I'm paying for it, so there....

[ThanhPhero]

I suspect some of these cosr "overruns" are what has been paying for the exotic secret stuff.

[ThanhPhero]

plastic cups with the NRO logo on them.

That would indicate to me that NRO is no longer the name of the organization that actually deals with those secrets and that it is no longer at Vandenburg.

[HenryLeeII]

The Reagan administration poured a huge amount of money into satellite reconnaissance, including a stealth satellite program. They created a special security compartment called "Zirconic" that was extremely secret.

Zirconic is simply another compartment within the Top Secret realm. It is no more secret than ****** or ****, which are also both Top Secret.

"Only someone who had a ‘Zirconic clearance’ was allowed to know about the existence of the stealth satellite program.

...hence the term "Need to Know."

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) initiated a number of stealth satellite programs during the 1980s. The NRO manages the nation’s spy satellite programs.

No, the NRO manages the nation's reconnaissance satellites.

[RKV]

The names have been changed to protect the innocent;>)

[HenryLeeII]

When I was a Vandenburg we never ever talked about NRO outside of the scif. It was a "need to know" topic. I was there at an air show last month and they even handed out plastic cups with the NRO logo on them. Times have changed.

Yep. My daughter took her ID badge she got at NRO's family day a few years back to her school today for a little birthday show-and-tell. NRO became open to all Congress members around 1991, then to the public in '95 although they're still not well known.

[Walkingfeather]

never heard of this... did the film come back to earth in a pod some how? How did it get back?