The imperial image

"The debate is really between the military, which needs a lot of imagery but doesn't need the highly classified imagery, and the intelligence community, which wants to keep the capability to produce its own imagery," said Bill Wilt, a senior official with GeoEye, one of the private satellite companies. (NY Times, Friday, April 20, 2012).

The piece, written by James Risen, is headlined, "A Military and Intelligence Clash Over Spy Satellites." Apparently, the military has different imagery needs than the intelligence community and prefers to keep its own eyes in the sky, while the intelligence community seems to be in favor of outsourcing spy satellite technology to commercial (non-governmental) companies.

"The beauty of commercial imagery is that it is unclassifed," said Walter Scott, chief technical officer of Digital-Globe, a satellite company based in Longmont, Colo.

"American commercial satellite companies now produce images of higher resolution than they are permitted to sell publicly, and their only customers are US government agencies or foreign governments, with American approval. Commerical satellites can show, for example, an image of a specific vehicle type or spare tire on a truck, while the more senstive government-owned satellites can detect gunmounts or vehicle identification numbers."