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ARTICLES

The Office That Never Was: The Failed Creation of the National Applications Office

Pages 65-118 | Published online: 04 Dec 2010

REFERENCES

  • Robert Block, “U.S. to Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites,” The Wall Street Journal, 15 August 2007, pp. A1, A9. The U.S. has also made use of aerial reconnaissance systems, particularly the U-2 and SR-71 aircraft, in support of civil agencies. The Journal had reported almost two years earlier a possible expansion of the use of imagery satellites for domestic coverage but at the time there were few specifics to report. See Andy Pasztor, “Satellite Policy May Shift,” The Wall Street Journal, 26 September 2005, p. A6. And in 2004, the Associated Press transmitted an article on the use of reconnaissance satellites over the U.S. See Katherine Pfleger Schrader, Associated Press, “Spy Imagery Agency Watching Inside U.S.,” 26 September 2004.
  • [Deleted], Chairman, COMOR Photo Working Group, Memorandum for: COMOR Photo Working Group, Subject: Revised List of Domestic Targets for KH-4, 28 April 1967 w/att: “Domestic Targets for KH-4.” Among the other targets were: Ellsworth Air Force Base, Cape Kennedy, the AEC Nevada Test Site, the Manned Space Center, and the Wyandotte Chemical Corporation.
  • [Deleted], NRO Staff, Memorandum for Dr. Flax, Subject: Letter from Mr. Helms to Dr. Hornig, dated 13 December 1966, re: Establishment of a Seminar Composed of Scientists from Civil Agencies to Study Uses of TKH Photography, 22 December 1966; OEG, Memo for: WAT [William A. Tidwell], Subject: Problems Relating to the Feasibility of the Use of KH Photography by Civilian Agencies, 11 January 1967, CREST; Richard Helms to Donald F. Hornig, 8 February 1967.
  • [Deleted], Assistant to the Deputy Director, NPIC, Memorandum for the Record, Subject: ARGO Committee Meeting, 10 June 1968, Executive Office Building, Room 303, 1000 Hours, n.d., CIA Records Search Tool (CREST).
  • W.C. Truppner (Director, National Resource Analysis Center) to Dr. D.H. Steininger (Chairman, ARGO Streering Group), n.d. CREST.
  • [Deleted], Memorandum for Chairman, COMIREX, Subject: Satellite Photography of the U.S. for United States Geological Survey Mapping Activities, 15 June 1971 w/att: [Deleted], Memorandum for USIB, Subject: Satellite Photography of the U.S. for United States Geological Survey Mapping Activities, n.d., CREST.
  • [Deleted], Donald H. Steininger, Memorandum for: Director of Central Intelligence, Subject: Use of Reconnaissance Satellite Photography by the Civilian Sector and non-USIB Agencies, 9 March 1973, CREST. For a history of the ARGO effort, see James David, “The Intelligence Agencies Help Find Whales: Civilian Use of Classified Overhead Photography under Project ARGO,” Quest, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2009, pp. 27–36.
  • Paul V. Walsh , Acting Deputy Director for Intelligence, Memorandum for: Director of Central Intelligence, Subject: Federal Mapping Task Force Report, 20 August 1973, CREST; Federal Mapping Task Force, Federal Mapping Task Force Report, 1973, p. 3, CREST.
  • Roland S. Inlow , Chairman , Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation, Memorandum for: Director of Central Intelligence, Subject: Comments on Draft Memorandum for Henry Kissinger on Civil Use of Classified Reconnaissance Systems, Technologies, and Products, 31 July 1973, CREST.
  • Ibid.
  • Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States, Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities Within the Untied States, June 1975, p. 231. At the time the “fact of” satellite reconnaissance was classified and could not be mentioned in a public report, hence, the commission wrote of aerial rather than satellite photography, or even the more accurate “overhead photography.”
  • Tab D [Deleted], Colonel USAF, Memorandum for Mr. Plummer, Subject: Implementation of the Recommendation of the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States Pertaining to Civilian Agencies' Use of Classified Overhead Photography, 26 August 1975; [deleted], Major, USAF, Memorandum for Dr. Cook, Subject: Implementation of the Recommendation of the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States Pertaining to Civilian Agencies' Use of Classified Overhead Photography, 26 August 1975; Henry Kissinger, William E. Colby, and James T. Lynn (Singators), Memorandum, Subject: Establishment of the Committee for Civil Applications of Classified Overhead Photography of the United States, 3 October 1975, CREST.
  • Henry Kissinger , William Colby , and Lynn (Singators), Memorandum, Subject: Establishment of the Committee for Civil Applications of Classified Overhead Photography of the United States.
  • On MASINT, see Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, 5th ed. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2007), pp. 245–272.
  • George J. Tenet , Bruce Babbitt , Sylvia M. Matthews , and Samuel R. Berger , “Charter: Committee on Civil Applications of Classified Overhead Remotely Sensed Data,” 2 October 2000.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.; Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, September 2005, p. 25.
  • Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, p. 25; interview with Keith Hall, 28 April 2010.
  • Jeremy Singer , “Homeland Defense Could Boost Domestic Imaging Needs,” Space News, 27 May 2002, p. 3; U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report 107-149, To Authorize Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2003 for Intelligence and Intelligence-Related Activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for Other Purposes, May 2002, p. 21.
  • U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report 107-149, To Authorize Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2003 for Intelligence and Intelligence-Related Activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for Other Purposes, p. 21.
  • Jeremy Singer , “Homeland Defense Could Boost Domestic Imaging Needs”; U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report 107-149, To Authorize Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2003 for Intelligence and Intelligence-Related Activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for Other Purposes, p. 21.
  • Charles Allen , e-mail to author, 5 April 2010; Hall interview.
  • Director of Central Intelligence, FY 1998–1999 Congressional Budget Justification, Volume IV: National Reconnaissance Program, February 1997, pp. 27, 248; Jeffrey T. Richelson, “Scientists in Black,” Scientific American, February 1998.
  • Charles Allen , e-mail to author; Hall interview; Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, p. 4.
  • Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, pp. 1, 4.
  • Ibid., p. 4.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid., p. 5.
  • Interview with Charles Allen, 1 April 2010; Hall interview.
  • Michael Chertoff , Memorandum for: Ambassador John D. Negroponte, Subject: CAC Blue Ribbon Study Group Recommendations—DHS Executive Agency of the Domestic Applications Committee (DAO), 14 March 2006.
  • Ibid.
  • Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General OIG-08–35, Letter Report: National Applications Office Privacy Stewardship, April 2008, p. 2; Paul A. Schneider, Under Secretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security, Letter to Honorable David E. Price, 22 February 2007.
  • J.M. McConnell , Memorandum for: Distribution, Subject: (U) Designation of Executive Agency for the National Applications Office, 25 May 2007. There are two redacted portions to the declassified version of the memo. One redaction is represented by the ellipsis in the quote associated with this note. The other, approximately two lines in length, immediately follows the quotation. The initial redaction probably reads “less SIGINT.” The second probably refers to procedures involved in obtaining authorization for communications intercepts. A virtually identical memo—but with the redacted material absent—was signed by McConnell in June. (J.M. McConnell, Memorandum for: Distribution, Subject: Establishment of Executive Agency for the National Applications Office, 29 June 2007.)
  • McConnell , Memorandum for: Distribution, Subject: (U) Designation of Executive Agency for the National Applications Office, 25 May 2007.
  • Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General OIG-08-35, Letter Report: National Applications Office Privacy Stewardship, p. 2; Department of Homeland Security, “Fact Sheet: National Applications Office,” 15 August 2007, www.dhs.gov
  • Department of Homeland Security, “Fact Sheet: National Applications Office.”
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Department of Homeland Security, National Applications Office, Standard Operating Procedures, Requirements Process for Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT), 12 March 2008, p. 7.
  • Government Applications Task Force (GATF), Pilot Project Summary, October 1996, pp. 3, 5.
  • Civil Applications Committee, “The Civil Applications Committee,” July 2001; Donald Kerr, “Remarks and Q&A by the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Dr. Donald Kerr, 2007 GEOINT Symposium, San Antonio, Texas,” 23 October 2007, p. 3; Hall interview. Hall also noted that while the NGA worked with DHS on the federal level, state and local officials were often cut out.
  • NPIC, “Questionable NPIC Projects,” 8 May 1973.
  • Michelle Herman , “NGA Provides Broad Support During Hurricane Season,” Pathfinder, January–February 2005, pp. 25–26; Reuters, “U.S. spy satellites aid Hurricane Katrina recovery,” 31 August 2005; Michael Cilladi, “NGA Assists FEMA with Midwest Flood Response,” Pathfinder, September/October 2008, p. 17. The Defense Intelligence Agency's unclassified magazine also contained an article on DIA support to Katrina relief operations, noting that DIA had leased two DC-3 aircraft, which were equipped with MASINT R&D sensors to detect hazardous material spills. See Michael B. Zimmer and David Pan, “DIA Supports the Homeland After Hurricane Katrina,” Communiqué, January/February 2006, pp. 5–7.
  • Department of Homeland Security, National Applications Office, Standard Operating Procedures, Requirements Process for Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT), p. 7.
  • Charles E. Allen , “The Secure Border Initiative,” Pathfinder, July/August 2006, pp. 15–17. Also see, Whitney Margherio and Nate Smith, “NGA Augments Border Security,” Pathfinder, September/October 2008, pp. 6–7; Robert Block, “U.S. to Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites.”
  • Shawn Reese , Congressional Research Service, National Special Security Events, 6 November 2007, p. 2.
  • Ibid., pp. 4–5; Allen R. Myerson, “As Energy Council Gathers, Oil Industry Seeks Answers,” New York Times, 16 September 1998, p. C23; Special Events Working Group, Joint Threat Assessment, 56th Presidential Inauguration, 7 January 2009, www.cryptome.org; Special Events Working Group, Joint Special Events Threat Assessment, Super Bowl XLIII, 16 January 2009, www.cryptome.org
  • William Mullen , “NGA Expands Customer Base for Special-Security Events,” Pathfinder, July–August 2006, pp. 18–19.
  • Department of Homeland Security, National Applications Office, Standard Operating Procedures, Requirements Process for Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT), p. 7.
  • Richard Lacayo , “The State versus McVeigh,” Time, 15 April 1996, pp. 51–53.
  • Nancy Gibbs , “Tracking Down the Unabomber,” Time, 15 April 1996, pp. 38–41.
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Implications of the National Applications Office (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009), pp. iii–iv; Chertoff Group, “The Honorable Charles Allen—Principal,” n.d.
  • Danny O. Coulson and Elaine Shannon , No Heroes: Inside the FBI's Secret Counter-Terror Force (New York: Pocket Books, 2001), pp. 194–195, 204–205, 246.
  • It is known that an FBI observation plane, equipped with a thermal imaging system, orbited the Branch Davidian compound on 19 April 1993. Another confrontation between a religious group and law enforcement, this one a radical offshoot of the Mormon Church, occurred in April 2008, and concerned alleged activities within the group's compound. See Sylvia Moreno, “Tex. Compound Was Considered a ‘Holy Land,’” www.washingtonpost.com, 14 April 2008.
  • Jeffrey T. Richelson, Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST, America's Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad (New York: W.W. Norton, 2009), pp. 89–108.
  • Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, p. 21.
  • Robert Block, “U.S. to Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites.”
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Eric Schmitt , “Liberties Advocates Fear Abuse of Satellite Images,” The New York Times, 19 August 2007, p. A14.
  • Joby Warrick , “Domestic Use of Spy Satellites to Widen,” www.washingtonpost.com, 16 August 2007.
  • Edward J. Markey to Michael Chertoff, 16 August 2007.
  • Ibid. William J. Broad, “C.I.A. Revives Data Sharing on Environment,” The New York Times, 15 January 2010, pp. A1, A13.
  • Robert Block , “Satellite Plan Draws Scrutiny,” The Wall Street Journal, 23 August 2007, p. 4; Turner Brinton and Colin Clark, “Harman to Hold Hearings on Domestic Surveillance Policy,” Space News, 27 August 2007, p. 4.
  • Michael Chertoff , “Delegation of Authority for the Establishment and Management of the National Applications Office,” 17 August 2007.
  • Bennie G. Thompson to Michael Chertoff, 22 August 2007.
  • Ibid.
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland, pp. iii–iv. Aside from the substantive issues that would become the subject of dispute during the hearings there was also some discord over the failure of three additional government officials—DHS Acting General Counsel Gus Coldebella, DDNI for Collection Mary Margaret Graham, and Alexander W. Joel, the Civil Liberties Protection Officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence—to testify. Chairman Thompson reported that a letter from Coldebello informed him that “I do not feel that it would be useful for me to participate as a witness,” and stated that he didn't need the Acting General Counsel's advice on determining “who will be a useful witness and who will not.” Thompson also expressed disappointment that Graham and Joel would not be testifying—although according to Rep. Peter T. King (R., New York) it was Thompson who denied them the opportunity to testify—apparently because they refused to appear on the same panel as the ACLU and CNSS representatives (pp. 3–4). Keith Hall notes that “at no time” did Congress ask to speak with him or other members of the study group. Hall interview.
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland, p. 8.
  • Ibid., pp. 8–9
  • Ibid., p. 9.
  • Ibid., p. 16.
  • Ibid., pp. 12–13.
  • Ibid., p. 13.
  • Ibid., pp. 6–7, 14.
  • Ibid., p. 45.
  • Ibid., p. 46 .
  • Ibid., p. 46.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid., p. 47; Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, p. 30. Contrary to Steinhardt's statement, while the Supreme Court did rule in the Kyllo case that all activities in a home were intimate details and that use of a thermal imaging device in the circumstances (the Court identified two potential exceptions) constituted a search an attempt to detect unusual heat emissions in a neighborhood would not necessarily be prohibited. That was the theory behind the warrantless radiation monitoring of mosques and other Islamic sites in the aftermath of 9/11. On the monitoring of Islamic sites, see Jeffrey T. Richelson, Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST, America's Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad, pp. 191–194. On the Kyllo decision and its limitations, see: Christopher Desmond, “False Security: Kyllo and Thermal Imaging of the Non-Residential Structure,” Michigan State University College of Law, Spring 2007; David A. Sullivan, “A Bright Line in the Sky?: Toward A New Fourth Amendment Search Standard for Advancing Surveillance Technology,” Arizona Law Review, Vol. 44, Nos. 3–4, pp. 967–991; Susan Bandes, “Power, Privacy, and Thermal Imaging,” Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 86, 2001–2002, pp. 1379–1392; Adam W. Brill, “Kyllo v. United States: Is the Court's Bright-Line Rule on Thermal Imagery Written in Disappearing Ink?,” Arkansas Law Review, Vol. 56, 2003–2004, pp. 431–454; Scott J. Smith, “Thermal Surveillance and the Extraordinary Device Exception: Re-defining the Scope of the Katz Analysis,” Valapraiso University Law Review, 30, 1995–1996, pp. 1071–1117; Christopher Slobogin, “Peeping Techno-Toms and the Fourth Amendment: Seeing Through Kyllo's Rules Governing Technological Surveillance,” Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 86, 2001–2002, pp. 1393–1437.
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland, pp. 48–49.
  • Ibid., p. 49.
  • Ibid., p. 54.
  • Ibid., p. 55.
  • Ibid., p. 21.
  • Ibid., pp. 24, 38.
  • “DHS Sat Imagery Office Has Lawmakers Concerned,” Space News, 10 September 2007, p. 3.
  • et al. ., to Honorable David E. Price, Honorable Harold Rogers, 26 September 2007; Turner Brinton, “Office Handing Classified Imagery to Be Delayed,” Space News, 8 October 2007, p. 11.
  • et al. ., to Honorable David E. Price, Honorable Harold Rogers, 26 September 2007; “Imaging Worries,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, 1 October 2007, p. 23.
  • Chris Storhm , “Opening of DHS Satellite Office Delayed Amid Criticism,” www.govexec.com, 1 October 2007; “U.S. Postpones Domestic Spy Satellite Program,” The New York Times, 2 October 2007, p. A21.
  • U.S. Congress, House Homeland Security Committee, “DHS Delays Launch of Spy Satellite Program,” 1 October 2007.
  • Siobhan Gorman , “Satellite Surveillance Plan Aims to Mollify Critics,” The Wall Street Journal, 20 December 2007, p. A4.
  • H.R. 2638, An Act making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2008, and for other purposes, 2 January 2008, pp. 110–111.
  • Department of Homeland Security, Charter: National Applications Office, 22 February 2008.
  • Ibid., pp. 3–5.
  • Ibid., pp. 5–6.
  • Department of Homeland Security, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Requirements Process for Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), 12 March 2008; Department of Homeland Security, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Requirements Process for Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT).
  • Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, OIG-08-35, Letter Report: National Applications Office Privacy Stewardship, April 2008, p. 1.
  • Ibid., p. 7; Charles E. Allen, Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Memorandum for Richard Skinner, Subject: Response to Draft Letter Report, National Applications Office Privacy Stewardship, 1 April 2008.
  • Bennie G. Thompson , Jane Harman , and Christopher P. Carney , to Michael Chertoff, 7 April 2008; Siobhan Gorman, “Privacy Fears Threaten Satellite Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 8 April 2008, p. A3.
  • Thompson, Harman, and Carney, to Chertoff.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Siobhan Gorman , “Privacy Fears Threaten Satellite Program.”
  • For example, Michael Chertoff to Harold Rogers, 9 April 2008.
  • Spencer S. Hsu , “Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.,” The Washington Post, 12 April 2008, p. A3.
  • Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report 110–333, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008), p. 53.
  • Bennie G. Thompson and Jane Harman , to Silvestre Reyes, David E. Price, Rush Holt, 14 May 2008.
  • Ibid.
  • U.S. Congress, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Report 110–665, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009), p. 38.
  • Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball , “You're on Candid Camera,” www.newsweek.com, 25 June 2008.
  • Charles Allen , “Why the Country Needs the National Applications Office,” Leadership Journal, July 2008, at www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Government Accountability Office, GAO-09–105 R, National Applications Office Certification Review, 6 November 2008, p. 2.
  • Ibid., pp. 3–4.
  • Ibid., p. 4.
  • Ibid., pp. 4–5.
  • Ibid., p. 5.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • James M. Chaparro , Deputy Under Secretary, Mission Integration, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, to Gene Dordaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States, 30 July 2008; James M. Chaparro, Deputy Under Secretary, Mission Integration, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, to Gene Dordaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States, 29 August 2008.
  • James M. Chaparro , Deputy Under Secretary, Mission Integration, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, to Gene Dordaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States, 29 August 2008.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, A Report Card on Homeland Security (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009), p. 56.
  • Siobhan Gorman , “Satellite-Surveillance Program to Begin Despite Privacy Concerns,” The Wall Street Journal, 1 October 2008, p. A10; Warren Ferster, “DHS, Lawmaker Differ on Readiness of Domestic Spysat Office,” Space News, 3 November 2008, p. 14; “Keynote Address at GEOINT Conference by Charles E. Allen, Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis/Chief Intelligence Officer,” 28 October 2008.
  • Donald H. Kent Jr. , Assistant Secretary, Office of Legislative Affairs, to Honorable Silvestre Reyes, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 18 August 2008 w/att: “Review of Applicability of Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), 18 USC and 1385 and other selected statutes to use of NGA capabilities in response to a request for assistance by NAO.”
  • “Review of Applicability of Posse Comitatus Act (PCA)…,” p. 1; Jennifer Elsea, Congressional Research Service, The Posse Comitatus Act and Related Matters: A Sketch, 2 June 2005; John R. Brinkerhoff, “The Posse Comitatus Act and Homeland Security,” www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/Articles/brinkerhoofpossecomitatus.htm, who argues that the Act has been misunderstood and was only intended to protect the U.S. military from being commandeered for law enforcement duty by local law enforcement organizations. Also see, Charles Doyle, Congressional Research Service, The Posse Comitatus Act and Related Matters: The Use of the Military to Execute Civilian Law, 1 June 2000; Office of the General Counsel, “Air Force General Guidance Document: Posse Comitatus,” September 2003; Office of the Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, Fourth Amendment Implications of Military Use of Forward Looking Infrared Radars Technology for Civilian Law Enforcement, 4 March 1992.
  • “Review of Applicability of Posse Comitatus Act (PCA)…,” p. 1.
  • Ibid., pp. 1–2.
  • Ibid., p. 3.
  • Turner Brinton , “Harman Challenge Prompts Review of National Applications Office,” Space News, 15 June 2009, p. 12.
  • Roger Mackin , Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Memorandum for: Janet Napolitano, Subject: Response to Chairwoman Jane Harman and Chairman Norm Dicks regarding the National Applications Office (NAO), 10 March 2009; Alice Lipowicz, “Napolitano to Review Satellite Imagery Program,” www.fcw.com, 30 March 2009.
  • Alice Lipowicz , “Napolitano to Review Satellite Imagery Program.”
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • H.R. 2703, 111th Congress, 1st Session, “To prohibit the Secretary of Homeland Security from obligating funds for the National Applications Office to the Department of Homeland Security,” 4 June 2009.
  • H.R. 2704, 111th Congress, 1st Session, “To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to close the National Applications Office of the Department of Homeland Security,” 4 June 2009.
  • Josh Meyer, “Homeland Security Kills Spy Satellite Program,” The Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2009, p. A12.
  • Glenn Thrush , “Spy spat divides Harman, Napolitano,” Politico, at http://dyn.politico.com, 12 June 2009; U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, 2010 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009), p. 29. The House Committee observed about the NAO and National Immigration Information Sharing Program that “although the Department has had at least 18 months to develop and submit operating documents and certifications showing that these programs can be conducted within existing privacy and civil liberties statutes, it has failed to adequately do so. While the Committee strongly supports programs that the Department believes are necessary for the security of the country, it is pointless to sustain funding for programs that are not operational and have been unable to demonstrate they can function within existing law.”
  • Janet Napolitano to the Hon. Jane Harman, 9 June 2009.
  • Glenn Thrush , “Spy Spat Divides Harman, Napolitano.”
  • Ibid.; Turner Brinton, “Harman Challenge Prompts Review of National Applications Office.”
  • William J. Bratton , President, Major Cities Chiefs, to the Hon. Janet Napolitano, 21 June 2009.
  • Ibid. On suspicious activities reporting, see Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Information Sharing Enterprise, “Nationwide Suspicious Activities Reporting Initiative,” n.d., and Metropolitan Police Department, District of Columbia, GO-HSC-802.06, “Suspicious Activity Reporting Program,” 16 January 2009. The latter notes that the program would “provide a mechanism for members to report suspicious activity discovered in the course of routine or specialized patrol and in initial follow-up investigations.”
  • Office of the Press Secretary, “Secretary Napolitano Announces Decision to End National Applications Office Program,” www.dhs.gov, 23 June 2009.
  • Ibid.
  • U.S. Congress, House Homeland Security Committee, “NAO Cancellation Aligned with Committee's Work,” http://hsc.house.gov, 23 June 2009; Amy Klamper, “Homeland Security Kills Nascent National Applications Office,” Space News, 29 June 2009, p. 5.
  • Spencer S. Hsu , “DHS to Cut Police Access to Spy-Satellite Data,” www.washingtonpost.com, 24 June 2009; Allen interview.
  • Allen interview.
  • Hall interview.
  • [Deleted], Note for RSI, Subject: NPIC-EPA Relationship—Additional Information, 7 November 1973, CREST.
  • Brig. Gen. William L. Shields , Jr. , Memorandum for: Chairman, COMIREX, Subject: Civil Applications of NRO Imaging Satellites, 15 February 1978.
  • Independent Study Group, Final Report, Civil Applications Committee (CAC) Blue Ribbon Study, p. 11.
  • On the Terrorist Surveillance Program, see Jeffrey Richelson and Thomas Blanton, eds., National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book #178, Electronic Surveillance: From the Cold War to Al-Qaeda, www.nsarchive.org, 4 February 2006. On TALON and CIFA, see Jeffrey Richelson, ed., National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book #230, The Pentagon's Counterspies: The Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), www.nsarchive.org, 17 September 2007.
  • Ann M. Simmons , “Focusing on Crime and Rights,” The Los Angeles Times, 27 November 2009, p. A3.
  • See Dwayne Day, “Heavens! Debunking Is Indicated,” The Washington Post, 2 July 2000, p. B3; National Reconnaissance Office, “NRO FOIA Case Log, January 1–June 30, 1995,” 14 July 1995, Case No. F-95–0039; National Reconnaissance Office, “NRO-FOIA Case Log, July 1–December 31, 1996,” 18 January 1996, Case No. 96-0060.
  • Hall interview.
  • Monica Davey , “Drone to Patrol Part of Border With Canada,” The New York Times, 8 December 2008, p. A22; “Global Hawk, U-2 Capture Essential Wildfire Images,” www.af.mil, 29 October 2007; “Global Hawk, U-2 and P-3 Aircraft Capture Images of Wildfires,” www.acc.af.mil, 27 October 2007.
  • Government Accountability Office, GAO-09-105 R, National Applications Office Certification Review, p. 34.
  • Hall interview.
  • See Kevin Pomfret, “Privacy: Reasonable Expectations in a Google Earth World,” Imaging Notes, Spring 2003, pp. 15–18; Kenneth Troiano, “Law Enforcement Use of High Technology: Does Closing the Door Matter Anymore?,” California Western Law Review, Vol. 24, 1987–1988, pp. 83–106; Patrick Korody, “Satellite Surveillance Within U.S. Borders,” Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 65, No. 4 (2004), pp. 1627–1662; Richard A. Best, Jr. and Jennifer K. Elsea, Congressional Research Service, Satellite Surveillance: Domestic Issues, 27 June 2008.
  • Dow Chemical Co. v. United States, 476 U.S. 277 (1986), p. 5, accessed from http://supreme.justia.com. In a case (California v. Ciraolo) handed down that same day as the Dow case the court ruled that aerial observation of a fenced-in backyard, from 1,000 feet, did not constitute a search—and therefore could be undertaken without a warrant. See Richard A. Best, Jr. and Jennifer K. Elsea, Congressional Research Service, Satellite Surveillance: Domestic Issues, 1 February 2010, p. 14.
  • “Remarks and Q&A by the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Dr. Donald Kerr…”
  • Katherine Pfleger Schrader , Associated Press, “Spy Imagery Agency Watching Inside U.S.” One example of an internal regulation covering domestic imagery is: U.S. Northern Command, NNCI 14–3, “Domestic Imagery,” 5 May 2009.
  • Scott Large , Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, “Statement for the Record before the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Strategic Joint Forces Hearing: Fiscal Defense Authorization Budget Request and Status for Space Activities,” 5 March 2008, pp. 6, 12.

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