ABC News: Spy Satellites Turned on the U.S. — It seems that the spy satellites are being used to spy on US under the guise of Homeland Security. My fav line is about securing the borders. They used to be secure when the immigration laws were enforced, what are the satellites going to do? What a crock. This should mean more people moving to cloudy Washington State where the spy satellites will only work one month out of the year.
Homeland Security Chief Intelligence Officer Charlie Allen said overhead imagery was used extensively after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and has been used by the Secret Service for security preparations for events such as the Super Bowl…
Committee members expressed concern about abuse of the satellite imagery, charging that Homeland Security had not informed the oversight committee about the program.
“What’s most disturbing is learning about it from The Wall Street Journal,” said Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
The lawmakers also expressed concern about using military capabilities for U.S. law enforcement and Homeland Security operations, potentially a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the military from serving as a law enforcement body within the United States, except where specifically authorized by Congress or the Constitution.
found by Aric mackey
The US has become a two party totalitarian regime.
The government does what it wants.
Cheers
Anyone see a crashed jetliner in the Pentagon photo? It wasn’t visible from the ground either.
WHAT in hell can you tell from space??
You cant tell if someone is carrying a pistol..
You cant INSPECT inside buildings…
You MIGHT see someone with a Long rifle… But you could do that FROM THE BLIMP…CHEAPER..
Are our satellites THIS cheap to use, and NO OTHER USE??
Hate to tell you
Moving to cloudy Washington State is not going to help you
Ever hear of infra red cameras as well as radar ?
#1 – TIHZ_HO – Aren’t you posting from China? Pot, meet Kettle, Kettle, meet pot.
#3 – ECA – In order of your questions:
You can get license plate resolution pictures from space. I have read rumors of being able to get even smaller, which just boggles the mind.
Correct! A pistol is too small.
You can get heat signatures from buildings. They have used this to find people using hydroponics and grow lights in the fight against evil marijuana growers.
The blimp might be a little obvious. Terrorist Bob turns to Terrorist Fred while in the middle of the desert training “Did you order the Goodyear blimp? Why does it say “Ice Cube’s a pimp!”?
No they are not cheap and yes there are about 2369 better uses for them.
More left wing hysteria. How much can you really see from an overhead satellite, someone’s bald spot? You people really need to relax.
gq – you really have to read more. Even if it’s just online.
Spy satellite resolution was clear enough in the mid-60’s to see who was boffing whom – outdoors. I was partially responsible for one military divorce, back then 🙂
Read a license plate? Hahaha. Milsats can tell how many pickles were chopped up in that bowl of potato salad on the picnic table. Hey, there’s a small brown spider on your back below your left shoulder!
Theoretical resolution with adaptive optics from a LEO sat is about 0.4 cm with today’s tech (and may be even better than that).
http://www.satobs.org/spysat.html
New camera tech here:
http://tinyurl.com/3e5888
“violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the military from serving as a law enforcement body within the United States, except where specifically authorized by Congress or the Constitution.”
So when has Bush ever given consideration for anything the Constitution allows?
The Constitution is just a piece of Paper. It means nothing in the eternal war on terror!
But it looks great on my iPhone.
How many people here complained when military satellites were redirected to help find the DC sniper?
Also, I remember people on this board applauding when private satellites were redirected to help find someone abducted in the Northwest.
#13..
Right, and who was complaining when we sent in the army and national guard to help secure LA and numerous other places during disasters, riots/etc… why don’t we just keep them around all the time? Think about it moron. Think how much safer we’d be with the military wandering around our cities full time. Wouldn’t that be nice (sarcasm).
The capabilities of these satellites go beyond taken a digital photo.
The satellites never found the DC sniper..
it was feet on the ground and public assistance that did the trick. Nowadays they want the public to go pound salt while the “experts” do their thing.
Does that means that the next version of A Christmas Carol will have the ghost of George Orwell rather than the usual ghosts of Xmas past, present and future?
Part of the Military Commissions Act and an executive order superceded the Posse Comitatus Act in October of ’06. Georgie now has total control of all military (including National Guard) and local law enforcement upon his declaration that it’s necessary.
This sucks though not quite as much as the FBI wire-taps.
#2 Hunt the Boeing! http://tinyurl.com/r6i
#5
>>”You can get heat signatures from buildings.
>>They have used this to find people using
>>hydroponics and grow lights in the fight against
>>evil marijuana growers.”
Ooh the evil marijuana growers! I’m all a-quiver. You were joking right?
#7
>>”More left wing hysteria. How much can you
>>really see from an overhead satellite, someone’s
>>bald spot? You people really need to relax.”
If you can’t really see much then why use them?
I paid tax money for these spysats. I’d like a live feed. It would be nice to keep an eye on the dogs in the back yard while I’m in the house posting on DU. 😉
They never found the DC sniper that way, but the satellites were used, and the usual suspects never objected. Also, this site cheered when it was a private satellite being used for this purpose. I think I was the only objector.
What is it about the sateillite or other surveillance issues I can walk out on my porch and see into about 7 houses windows so what most people aren’t doing anything interesting I mean right now some one might be watching me type on a laptop BFD.
FOCUS…
FOOCCUUSS….
I resent that, we get at least two months of no-clouds every year. At least it adds up to that overall during the whole of the year. Still it doesn’t stop the Mexicans from invading, stealing, raping, and sponging of our tax dollars and doing what seems to come naturally to the people of Mexico.
Again, exactly how is this a safety net when the only people getting any benefit from welfare are minorities and illegal immigrants?