[FairOpinion]

Interesting article, butI think it's very much slanted against the NRO, not mentioning any of their successes. Since it is such a top secret organization, it's hard to know, or rather impossible to know what is really going on. They may need to reassess things, this one program may be in trouble, but I am sure that we need those secret satellites.

They are certainly no substitute for human intelligence and other things, but are an integral part of our intelligence operations.

I doubt that there is a "shift away" from NRO, just that previously all other type of intelligence was pretty much ignored and 9-11 demonstrated that even the best satellite imagery or electronic intercepts, or whatever they do, are no substitute for intelligence on the ground.

[risk]

>>>> They are certainly no substitute for human intelligence and other things, but are an integral part of our intelligence operations.

Agreed, this is like saying ABM spending isn't 100% effective, so let's stop it altogether. These kinds of specious arguments always have the same purpose in mind: spend less on the military so America isn't as strong.