Posted on 06/14/2009 8:34:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In a move that bolsters her civil liberties bona fides, South Bay Rep. Jane Harman is trying to shut down a controversial office that would give local police officials access to information from spy satellites.
The program, which was introduced under the Bush administration, is part of a broader effort to secure the United States by making it easier to share information between federal and local authorities.
But civil liberties advocates say that giving police chiefs and county sheriffs access to sophisticated spy imagery takes it a step too far.
Responding to critics, Congress last year restricted funding for the National Applications Office, which would operate the program. The Obama administration is now reviewing it, but has not ruled out keeping it going in some form.
Supporters say its applications are benign. Charles Allen, Homeland Security undersecretary in the Bush administration, argued it would be used to fight wildfires, respond to hurricanes and floods, and facilitate security at major events like political conventions.
But as originally conceived, the satellites could also be used by local police to combat terrorism or gang violence. Opponents argued that using military satellites within U.S. borders would set a dangerous precedent, and run afoul of Fourth Amendment protections.
"Satellites can see and hear a lot of things," Harman said. "Do we want to unleash this capability that military satellites have on American citizens without a demonstrated need and an extremely careful legal framework? My answer to that is unequivocally no." Bush administration officials argued that they had built in safeguards, and that the program would comply with federal privacy laws and the 19th century Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits using the military for domestic law enforcement.
Spy satellites have been used for decades for some limited purposes within the United States, such as geologic mapping and volcano monitoring, through the Civil Applications Committee. But in the wake of the intelligence reforms following 9-11, the director of national intelligence tasked a committee with expanding the domestic use of spy satellites for homeland security purposes.
"The world we live in is far different, and in many ways more complex, than when the CAC was first formed," Allen argued last year.
The National Applications Office was introduced in 2007, and immediately generated opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, issued a report last fall that raised several questions about the program's vetting procedures and its privacy safeguards.
Janet Napolitano, the new director of Homeland Security, wrote a letter to Harman this week in which she said the program is still being reviewed, but suggested it may have legitimate applications.
"The intelligence community possesses unique capabilities and skills that can be indispensable tools for non-traditional intelligence customers," Napolitano wrote.
Harman's legislation, if approved, would shut down the National Applications Office entirely.
Harman has taken heat from civil liberties groups in the past for proposing the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terror Act. The bill would have set up a commission to study "homegrown terror," which opponents, including the ACLU, argued could lead to Internet censorship or other free speech violations. The bill passed the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate.
Harman said this week that if she decides to pursue the issue again this year, she will take a different approach.
"We obviously encountered stiff headwinds on that," she said. "That one is going to have to be reworked."
Like keeping tabs on us eeeeeeeeevil Tea Partiers.
Go ahead. Spy on us. You might learn something.
No you don't! You (Big Brother) can't enter my house w/o a warrant, so why should you be able to spy on me via satellite?
Dang, hate to say this but I agree with Harman, I can just see all the cops in the country, spending hours, checking the nudists on the beach each day.
Good point.
Okay. How about this? Go ahead. Spy on us. And next time the attendance of the Tea Parties is in dispute, release the satellite photos.
Charles Allen, Homeland Security undersecretary in the Bush administration, argued it would be used to fight wildfires, respond to hurricanes and floods, and facilitate security at major events like political conventions. But as originally conceived, the satellites could also be used by local police to combat terrorism or gang violence. Opponents argued that using military satellites within U.S. borders would set a dangerous precedent, and run afoul of Fourth Amendment protections.
Read that and you'll know the program is dead. First, it started under former President Bush. Second, it is intended to secure the US. No way the liberal 'rats will let it stand with those two strikes.
Now, if they were trying to sell it as a means to celebrate sexual diversity (don't ask, I don't see how that could work either), or maybe as a means of cataloging the effects of human-caused global warming... Why then, the liberal 'rats would be all over it.
Satellite surveillance, would certainly explain the collection of GPS data to locate residences (which is being done as part of the 2010 census).
Any claim that Harman is a “moderate” and pro-national security just went down the crapper.
Satellites can provide real-time information which would be of use to law enforcement agencies, esp. if they need details of a reenforced drug-dealer compound (lots in California, Jane), need to track drug-trucks etc and still stay out of sight, track clandestine boats movements into the US (drugs, illegals, spies, saboteurs), etc.
As for the nudist beaches, most of what you will find there will blind you for life. Buy a magazine, stupid.
keep an eye on the tea partiers,
let the bank robbers go free.
I am glad i am not a democrat, i would go insane.
I can just imagine the locals getting access to military, high-resolution graphics.
Not.
What loopy drug warrior thought this up?
The images contain a lot more information than you might think.
Oh, not the buildings, pot plants, and nudists, but just like a professional photographer can tell if a picture was taken with professional equipment or a disposable camera, a photo analyst can tell you a lot about the equipment that took a picture. If an enemy bribes just one sheriff and gets an original image some of our secrets go with it.
Secondly, it is certainly cost-effective for a foreign country to have an agent “sell” some camouflaged equipment to a pot growing operation and then turn them in in a locality with a “friendly” sheriff. Bingo, they have an excellent reading on our capability to detect their camouflage. Pictures of just what it looks like to our satellites. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of information given to an enemy for their expenditure of a pittance.
Keep our military secrets secret.
How about google earth?
None of which changes the fact that the cops need to keep their hands off this information.
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