Posted on 11/11/2001 7:44:10 AM PST by Brian Mosely
MANCHESTER - Local officials have expressed security concerns over an effort to bring the Tennessee Base Mapping Program to Coffee County after it was discovered that high quality mapping data of the area may have been sent to China.
The information was revealed during a meeting of a newly formed committee made up of officials from the county, the two cities and utility districts who are examining how to go about bringing the program to Coffee County.
David Kellar, representing the City of Tullahoma's Planning and Codes Department told the committee that while they were researching the mapping program, they have been told the film of the fly-overs of Franklin and Lincoln counties was sent to and developed in the communist country.
"That threw up a red flag and we said, 'we have a security problem,'" Kellar said.
County Executive James Wilhelm said, "Surely, the people in Nashville and Washington will see the problem with this...this sticks out like a sore thumb."
"I mean, we've got Arnold Center sitting out there."
Mark A. Tuttle, director of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the State of Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration's Office of Information Resources, confirmed to The News Friday that a subcontractor working on the mapping project is located in China.
"The state's contractor, Tennessee Geographic Information (TGI), does in fact have a subcontractor that's located in China," Tuttle said.
TGI's primary subcontractor, Earth Data International of Gaithersburg, Md., develops the film, and the actual compilation and collection of data from the aerial photography is done in China, Tuttle explained.
Earth Data International is also listed on the Internet as a subcontractor for The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), which provides accurate imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information in support of the nation's military forces and national policy makers and civil users.
NIMA is a Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency that supplies critical support for the national decision-making process and contributes to the high state of operational readiness of America's military forces.
When asked what concerns the state or federal government might have over the detailed mapping data going to a foreign power after the events of Sept. 11, Tuttle stated that Tennessee had requested TGI to "appropriately document what security procedures are in place and what procedures they will be taking to ensure that the data is kept secure."
The state program would produce a comprehensive digital base map suitable for inclusion in GIS, which is an organized collection of hardware, software, data, and personnel designed to input, analyze and display geographically referenced information.
When completed, the highly detailed map could be used for a huge variety of purposes such as for law enforcement, choosing where to place water lines, identifying where proposed construction can go or where future infrastructure needs to be.
If approved, work could begin in Coffee County in early 2002.
Photographic flights over Coffee County could be conducted in the winter or early spring months. Plans are to map all areas of the state into the system in the space of four or five years.
County Budget director Mark Allen said the committee would have to make some quick decisions on what kind of photographic resolution they would want used on which areas of the county.
"We do have some time constraints," Allen said.
But Allen also expressed concern with the revelation that detailed aerial maps of the county would be given to China.
"We don't want China to be able to pinpoint stuff, but it sounds like they're going to be able to get it anyway," he said, adding that the state is going to map the area no matter if the county participates or not.
"China is going to have the information anyway, which is scary," he said.
Wilhelm suggested the committee request that Tuttle return for a meeting to hear the county's concerns.
Allen continued to express concern: "I think our citizens would be a bit upset if we took detailed pictures that's going to be taken and mapped and then sent to China," he said.
The plan developed for the Base Mapping Program calls for a partnership between the State of Tennessee, the federal government, local governments, and the private sector.
Local government participation in the amount of 25 percent of the total costs is being sought from those counties that can afford to participate.
The cost for Coffee County would total $85,353.03, with the remaining 75 percent provided by state and federal funding in the amount of $341,412.13.
The funding could be split in the county five or six different ways, according to Wilhelm, depending how the cities and utility districts participate in the program.
However, if a decision were made not to participate, the information would be denied to the county.
A person using the system could call up any area in the county on a computer with pinpoint accuracy using the Global Positioning System (GPS).
GPS is a satellite-based system for recording positional information and other data about a geographic feature. Ground positions are calculated by using signals from satellites orbiting the Earth.
The electronic map is layered where objects such as gas and water lines can be shown, as well as where the highest crime districts are located and data like population density and property values.
Law enforcement and emergency workers could even use the system to call up a map in a emergency to relay information about the physical layout of a building or even how many people live inside of a structure.
The members of the committee looking at the program in Coffee County are Jimmy White, property assessor; Dean Keith, Hillsville Utility District; Bryan Pennington, Manchester Water Department; Coy Nobltt, mayor of Manchester; David Kellar, Tullahoma Planning and Codes Department; Don Stone, Manchester city administrator, and Dale Willis of the Tullahoma Utilities Board.
No offense, but Coffee County is probably not on the priority target list for China (or anybody else). Their missiles won't reach TN, anyway.
Actually the data flows in both directions and the Chinese are not happy about it. I work in the GIS field with international data related to energy resource assessment. Many countries, China, Iran and until recently, Russia, purposely distort cartographic data to foil the evil plots of the Great Satan/American hegemonists/Capitalist Imperialists. Of course, Yankee ingenuity results in work-arounds.
I am much more concerned with critical software development taking place in these countries. Their programmers can put in backdoors and boobytraps in applications that they write for banks and other institutions.
This is an equally interesting concern, maybe even a little more so.
C.O. Is the GIS touched upon in your newly published book, Natural Process? I want to discuss it with you further. Our County has the ONLY elected County Surveyor in CA and we as electeds, had numerous intense discussions, especially since during the 1994 election process, many constituents were intensely interested in "Devolution," to the point of "County Supremacy!" It was right up there with "Home Rule!"
Over the last decade, this already has happened in CA. Even though Prop 13 (the great CA tax revolt of the mid '70's) capped property taxes, in the '90's the State stole our meager, already limited resources while passing numerous unfunded mandates on counties in the meantime.
It's no wonder they like the USSR style of concentrating power in the Crapitol. Could you imagine being a lobbyist and having to lobby the board of Commissioners in each of the 58 counties in CA to get 3 out of 5 votes to get something adopted uniformaly Statewide?
Yet it's no wonder we were interested in "County Supremacy" and "Devolution of Power!" Unfortunately, OKC just stopped the whole movement, right in it's tracks. I went to a meeting regarding the "Home Rule" movement at the University of CA at Davis, attended by Fed, State and Local elected and appointed government types who were terrified out of their friggen minds over these government shrinking movements, trying desperately to smear them as Militia, Freemen and militant conservative extremist, even terrorist idealogs.
I had to remind them that I supported some of these ideas and that people that voted for me did too. But, I would never support people that took the law in their own hands, only those who used politics, as politics is how we change things without killing each other in this great land.
It makes a lot of difference altitude wise. The GPS constellation are in circular orbits, which each satellite "knows" exactly. But the shape of the earth varies substantially from a sphere - even an elipsoid. That's why your civilian GPS can be off as much as 500' in altitude depending on where you are holding it.
The information describing the exact shape of the earth - the kind needed to target a cruise missile - is classified either Secret or Top Secret, not sure which.
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