Dear All, This may a bit sideways of topic but I thought some of you would be interested in it. While the speculation in the story is that this may be a new "killer" satellite network, it is also quite possible that they are simply talking about NRO's planned Future Imagery Architecture network, which has been in budgetary and technical trouble for some time. I am sending only portions of the story, which is available on the LATimes and Kansas City Star websites. Best, Theresa Lawmaker says mystery spy project 'dangerous to national security' By Katherine Pfleger Shrader, Associated Press, 12/9/2004 03:07 WASHINGTON (AP) Tucked inside Congress' new blueprint for U.S. intelligence spending is a highly classified and expensive spy program that drew exceptional criticism from leading Democrats. In an unusually public rebuke of a secret government project, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, complained Wednesday that the program was ''totally unjustified and very, very wasteful and dangerous to the national security.'' ................ ............................ The rare criticisms of a highly secretive project in such a public forum intrigued outside intelligence experts, who said the program was almost certainly a spy satellite system, perhaps with technology to destroy potential attackers. ................. Sending even defensive satellite weapons into orbit could start an arms race in space, warned John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, who has studied anti-satellite weapons for more than three decades. Pike said other countries would inevitably demand proof that any weapons were only defensive. ........ ......................... Another expert agreed. ''It's hard to think of most any satellite program, at least the standard ones, as dangerous to national security,'' said Jeffrey T. Richelson, who wrote a highly regarded book about CIA technology in 2001. Theresa Hitchens Vice President Center for Defense Information 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 Tel: 202-797-5269; Fax: 202-462-4559 thitchens@cdi.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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