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NOW SHOWING ON SATELLITE TV: SECRET AMERICAN SPY PHOTOS
The Guardian ^ | June 12, 2002 | Matt Drudge

Posted on 06/12/2002 7:30:38 PM PDT by jern

European satellite TV viewers can watch live broadcasts of anti-terrorist operations being conducted by US spy planes over the Balkans...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antiterrorist; communications; mattdrudge; operations; satellite
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To: Harrison Bergeron
Encrypting it and then selling a box to the enemy to decrypt it would have been better.
21 posted on 06/12/2002 10:20:17 PM PDT by LarryLied
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To: Harrison Bergeron
The Govt./military has used civilian transponders for some time, years in fact. Pentagon briefs on the random or established network feeds is a possibility too. There is a LOT of random traffic from the Clark Belt, to include reports from journalists in the field sending to their parent news agencies. Also file footage going from the major news broadcasters to their various affiliate stations.
22 posted on 06/12/2002 10:33:56 PM PDT by thescourged1
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To: Harrison Bergeron
It seems to me that the key word of this media release has been overlooked by the most astute here at FR.

"We seem to be transmitting this information potentially straight to our enemies," said one US military intelligence official who was alerted to the leak, adding: "I would be worried that using this information, the people we are tracking will see what we are looking at and, much more worryingly, what we are not looking at.

Hmmmm. What makes anybody think that anything is being ignored? Hmmmmm?

Does anybody really think that issues of national security would be broadcast on satellite for the whole world to see? Either Clintoon has so decrepitated this nations national security assets, or the people in charge are incompetant boobs.

I guess nobody knows diddly-squat about sources and methods and the power of dispensing information of what we do know to the enemy with an eyedropper to force their hand is beyond all of your intellects.

Leave the spook stuff to the spooks for crying out loud. Why don't we just concentrate on real Constitutional issues like gun registration and permits to carry in contrast to what the second ammendment says shall not be infringed?

Really, people...

23 posted on 06/12/2002 11:50:34 PM PDT by raygun
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To: Harrison Bergeron
Shhhhhh... how can disinformation work is everyone knows its disinformation? Unless people will think we are just saying it is disinformation to cover for a mistake in releasing information. But then, they might think we know that they will assume we are covering an erronous release of information with disinformation and decide to tell them that we are using disinformation in the hopes of making them believe its information. In which case we could really let them have information but convince them its disinformation. Oh heck, I don't know if I have disinformation about information or information about disinformation or if I really have real information or if I really have disinformation.
24 posted on 06/13/2002 1:51:10 AM PDT by piasa
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To: piasa
Bump
25 posted on 06/13/2002 2:59:32 AM PDT by dokmad
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To: thescourged1; SlickWillard
I remember the Telstar satellite(s) from the days before cable came out to the boondocks.

The other funny thing was that when your dish was panning from one end to the other, it briefly picked up the last channel viewed on each satellite. That could make for some real embarrasment in the morning, after someone had been watching porn late the night before.

26 posted on 06/13/2002 7:43:05 AM PDT by KayEyeDoubleDee
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To: Harrison Bergeron
Or the pictures themselves contain coded data.
27 posted on 06/13/2002 7:43:12 AM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: RCW2001
One officer wrote back to tell him that the problem was a "known hardware limitation".

Hmmm, they way they either ignore this or readily admit to knowing it's available has me wondering. I wonder if there is any reason that we would WANT to have this broadcasted? If we can fake a flight to the moon (chuckle), perhaps we can fake pictures supposedly being taken by drones for some reason or another.

28 posted on 06/13/2002 7:48:42 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: thescourged1;posterkid
High rate military transmissions such a video generally require the user to provide the end-to-end encryption. The satcom system by itself doesn't do it, although some systems that provide anti-jam protection (such as frequency hopping) in effect make the transmissions pretty secure. Encryption in itself doesn't require much data overhead.
29 posted on 06/13/2002 7:54:48 AM PDT by ironman
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To: KayEyeDoubleDee
That could make for some real embarrasment in the morning, after someone had been watching porn late the night before.

Unless you were smart enough to turn it back to something innocuous before you went to bed.

30 posted on 06/13/2002 7:59:28 AM PDT by SlickWillard
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To: Jhoffa_
"Can you pretty please tie my shoes?" He added.

Took me a few seconds but ....

lmao!!

31 posted on 06/13/2002 8:03:21 AM PDT by AAABEST
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To: piasa
"Shhhhhh... how can disinformation work is everyone knows its disinformation?"

Don't think so, these hobby sat guys are excellent at what they do, and I read about them downlinking recon info long before 9-11. Check out the Dr. Dish link below and read some of his, errr......, exploits. I think you'll be surprised.

DR.Dish

32 posted on 06/13/2002 8:46:15 AM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: StriperSniper
I hope my cable system adds that channel!

Good luck. I have Cablevision here in northern NJ and I can't even get a freaking Yankee game.

33 posted on 06/13/2002 8:49:14 AM PDT by TruthShallSetYouFree
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To: jern
I left a link to the awesome Dr. Dish page. Here's a taste of what some of these guys like to play with.

Military satellites

The military obviously protects its data from a curious public and other countries but even here people can get sloppy. During the Gulf war anyone that was sufficiently interested could occasionally get quite a good idea of the situation as uncoded radio chatter was often to be heard on the US-FLTSATCOM satellites. As with the weather satellites there are two distinct groups of satellites; geostationary and orbital.

The American system is based upon the FLTSATCOM series and the DSCS satellites. they additionally use the UHF band of the MAREC and INMARSATs (200-400 MHz). The UK puts its trust in its SKYNET satellites and Russians have probably already lost track of their military and spy satellites. The most well known series is the COSMOS series. These satellites can carry out just about every function you can think of. They can be configured as amateur radio, weather, scientific or military satellites. A complete overview of the area of application and technical data can be found in the SATELLITE’S ENCYCLOPEDIA by Jean-Philippe Donnio. This, probably the most reliable reference work, is available on disk.

The complexity of receiving and decoding transmissions from these satellites is enourmous. From time to time decoding is not possible. In spite of all this, these satellites can be a valuable source of information in times of crisis as a considerable proportion of traffic is voice. Video signals can’t be received but faxes pose no problem and thus programs such as CODE-3 with appropriate decoder are adequate for some data. The requisite receivers are expensive. The frequency range from 100 to over 2000 MHz is recommended and that doesn’t come cheap. Suitable units cost between 2000 and 9000 Marks (or £ 850-4000). When it comes to the antennas compromises can be made. A good Discone antenna with integrated amplifier is adequate for the reception of FLTSATCOM (200-400 MHz). Better however is the cruciform YAGI antenna for this frequency range. FLTSATCOM can be easily picked up in Europe. A Discone with a band amplifier gave good results in Holland. A good LOG periodic antenna is fine for the L- and S-bands.

In addition to their numerous COSMOS satellites the Russians also operate a large number of geostationary RADUGA satellites. A glance at a good satellite list will assist in locating these. The purpose of these most versatile satellites is to supply TV images, enable normal telecommunications and to serve the military, who use the lower C-band (below 3.65 GHz). Worth searching out is RADUGA 29 (drifting) at approximately 12.3° East. Simply switch from the Hot Bird position to the C-band and use the black carriers to target the satellite. FDM and SCPC can be found here. Outside of the UHF, L, S and C-band the military is obviously increasingy moving into the X-band. Rejected military equipment for this band is available from surplus dealers but the prices are usually out of the reach of amateurs. It’s a great source for poor, small countries to stock up their military electronics.

34 posted on 06/13/2002 8:54:08 AM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: TruthShallSetYouFree
Cablevision here in northern NJ

I know exactly what you mean (but the cable modem is awesome).

35 posted on 06/13/2002 9:05:47 AM PDT by StriperSniper
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To: raygun
"Leave the spook stuff to the spooks for crying out loud. Why don't we just concentrate on real Constitutional issues like gun registration and permits to carry in contrast to what the second ammendment says shall not be infringed? "

That's what we like.... finger wagging lectures on what we should be discussing and what we shouldn't. Can't get enough of 'em. Thanks for your service.

36 posted on 06/13/2002 11:04:57 AM PDT by Harrison Bergeron
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To: Harrison Bergeron
Don't mention it.

As soon as you out-rank me, I'll bow to your authority.

'Till then, you're nothing more than grits. O.k?

37 posted on 06/13/2002 11:07:18 PM PDT by raygun
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To: ScreamingFist
You know what jackass? You've not given then the codes.

Do that.

I'll be impressed then...

You still will be a jackass.

38 posted on 06/13/2002 11:12:04 PM PDT by raygun
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To: AAABEST
You don't think for a second that information essential to the security of this nation could be posted on this board do you?

Even if that could be true, and it was done so, what was to happen? Would a bunch of sturmtripper boot clad men batten down your door?

Methinks you read too many movies. No, what just happened is you just killed a bunch of soldiers. Those soldiers will not be able to save your sorry ass when you need it most.

Have a nice day.

39 posted on 06/13/2002 11:16:56 PM PDT by raygun
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To: ScreamingFist
Don't think for a second that you can't be found Mr. ScreamingFist. There are those very near to you who believe at this moment that you are an enemy of the state.

Good thing I won't hear you scream...

40 posted on 06/13/2002 11:27:08 PM PDT by raygun
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