[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 58 (Thursday, May 11, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3908-S3909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SECURITY AND COMMERCIAL SATELLITE IMAGERY

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on 
International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services of the 
Governmental Affairs Committee, I am concerned about an emerging issue 
that has important implications for our national security: the 
commercial satellite imaging industry. Soon the public will have access 
to high resolution pictures able to show objects as small as three feet 
in size.
  The rapid evolution of satellite technology has suddenly made the 
``eye in the sky'' accessible to everyone, from foreign governments to 
the average individual. Secret sites are suddenly no longer secret. 
Photos of Area 51, a top-secret military installation located in 
Nevada, were recently made available by a private company selling 
commercial satellite images. The wide availability of these pictures to 
any person or country that can afford to buy them has the potential to 
both help or hinder our security.
  Initially satellites were used during the Cold War for defense 
purposes. These classified images were only available to the 
government. However, civilians began to benefit from satellite pictures 
about thirty years ago when the government satellite, Landsat, began to 
sell photos to the public for agricultural planning purposes. The first 
commercial satellite launch did not occur until 1986, when France, 
Sweden and Belgium jointly launched SPOT I.
  The technology of satellites today has evolved considerably since

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Landsat, in 1972, began providing photos to the public. Those pictures 
could only render images of objects larger than 250 feet across.
  This all changed when earlier this year a private company called 
Space Imaging made history by distributing the first high-resolution 
satellite images of a North Korean ballistic missile site. Their photos 
had a one-meter resolution, providing the public a detailed look at the 
missile facilities of this rogue nation. Ruts in the road used by North 
Korean trucks could be seen.
  The industry for commercial satellites is growing steadily. In 1994 
President Clinton issued Presidential Decision Directive 23 which 
permitted the Commerce Department to license 12 U.S. companies to 
operate remote-sensing satellites. Space Imaging and Aerial Images, the 
company which took the Area 51 pictures, may be the first two of these 
companies to get a satellite aloft, but there are more to come. At 
least two other U.S. companies plan on launching satellites this year 
and several foreign companies have similar plans.
  Legal restrictions surrounding these photo purchases are few. Imaging 
companies do not have to identify either their customers or their 
pictures. An amendment to the 1997 Defense Authorization Act prohibits 
U.S. companies from selling satellite images of Israel that show 
objects with a diameter under 6 feet. Any sale of images to a terrorist 
state or any regime under U.S. or international sanctions is also 
prohibited. Aside from these restrictions, there are virtually no 
limitations on any satellite or any sale of satellite pictures. And 
even these restrictions are going to be harder to maintain as 
competition increases from more companies outside the United States.

  At the moment, the images are expensive, limited in coverage but not 
difficult to purchase. Foreign governments, private groups or 
individuals can now place their orders. In a competitive market with 
more countries offering this service, there will be competition to 
provide more precise pictures, of a greater number of subjects, in a 
more timely manner, at less cost. The restrictions the U.S. now imposes 
will be harder to maintain in such a free market. What was secret once, 
will be secret no longer.
  Pictures of Area 51, for example, were provided by a Russian launched 
satellite. India is also beginning a program to launch high-resolution 
imaging satellites and Israel is planning to launch its own commercial 
satellite. American restrictions on satellite images of Israel only 
apply to American satellites. Soon commercial satellites will also be 
using radar imaging--and thus will no longer be limited by the need for 
clear skies--and hyperspectral sensors which permit analysis of 
chemical characteristics. The United States government has long been 
part of the action. NASA's Commercial Remote Sensing Program is based 
at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
  But it is clear that as this competitive industry grows in the 
future, we should examine the impact of commercial satellites on our 
nation's security. Many have applauded the growth of this industry as a 
means of keeping the public well-informed and expanding the national 
discussion on issues of national and international security. It is true 
that having access to satellite images of other countries does enable 
the U.S. to monitor more areas around the world, to identify violations 
of international agreements, detect human rights abuses and watch for 
possible security threats. It will mean private, non-governmental 
organizations, such as the one which commissioned the pictures of North 
Korea, will be watching the world too, and issuing their intelligence 
bulletins.
  This may result in confusing interpretations. Countries could take 
advantage of the fact that they may be monitored by one of these 
satellites. Knowing that they are being photographed by a satellite and 
that these images may be made public, states could attempt to blackmail 
the international community by staging what appears to be a more robust 
nuclear program or preparations for a missile test for the benefit of 
the threatening images that this would produce. After all pictures do 
not lie, do they? Or they could do exactly the opposite and disguise 
their advanced defense capabilities so that the images captured and 
released to the media actually reinforce a rogue nation's efforts to 
circumvent international law.
  This possibility calls to mind the pictures taken last January of the 
Nodong missile launch site in North Korea. As I mentioned earlier, 
those pictures depicted a crude missile site and a launch pad that cuts 
through a rice paddy, making the North Korean facilities appear 
primitive and unthreatening. But these observations contradict the 
September 1999 National Intelligence Estimate which believes North 
Korea to be the country most likely to develop ICBMs capable of 
threatening the U.S. during the next fifteen years. If the U.S. accepts 
these pictures as fact and believes that the North Korean missile site 
is as unthreatening as it appears, should we let down our guard and 
disregard the threat they may pose to our country? I think not.
  Similarly, in March of this year, satellite photos of Pakistan's 
nuclear facility and missile garrison were taken by a commercial 
satellite and sold to a Washington-based arms control organization. 
These images have sparked a public policy debate over their 
interpretation and international security implications. The 
organization that purchased these photos insists that they are proof 
that Pakistan will not be persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons 
program. However, a possible misinterpretation of this data could 
easily incite a flare-up of the already volatile relationship between 
Pakistan and India.
  We cannot make assumptions about what these pictures mean when 
constructing our national security policy. Our eyes can deceive us. 
Photo interpretation is going to open up a new area of commercial 
employment for former government analysts. This evolving space race of 
the commercial satellite industry can offer us many military and 
civilian benefits. It can be an important tool in assisting us to make 
many of our national security decisions in the future. But we must also 
be wary about jumping to conclusions from what we see. A single picture 
may not be worth a thousand words. We must contemplate the use of these 
commercial satellites carefully and find the way to best utilize them 
so that they bolster, not threaten, our national security.
  Just as Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation devices are now 
widely accessible, we could have a situation in which an enemy uses GPS 
to attack an American target identified by commercial satellite 
imaging. Recently, the White House announced the United States would 
stop its intentional degradation of the GPS signals available to the 
public, giving the public access to the precise location system 
previously possible only for the Department of Defense. Defense is 
requesting $500 million in FY2001 to sustain and modernize the GPS 
program. Much of the technology used in commercial space launches came 
from the military.
  This is a strange new world. We need to gain a greater understanding 
of the implications of this technology on our national security. The 
technology may be inherently uncontrollable--just as export controls 
over computer encryption became impossible to sustain. Satellite 
imagery has the potential to be a major asset to the arms control, 
human rights, and environmental communities. We are witnessing the 
birth of a new area of information technology. I would urge my 
colleagues to consider this issue as we begin to examine American 
security in the 21st century.

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