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Military to rely on commercial satellites for mapping imagery By Frank Tiboni, Defense News Media Group
The move to rely on commercial satellites for U.S. military mapping needs stems from a June 7 memo from George Tenet, director of central intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence Agency, who believes industry can more appropriately handle the job, NIMA Director James Clapper said Nov. 20 at the ISR Integration Conference: “Shrinking the Sensor-to-Shooter Cycle.” The Tenet memo directed that “U.S. commercial imagery be the primary source of data used for mapping,” Clapper said. The Pentagon’s Defense Planning Guidance for 2004-2009 also instructed NIMA to offload most of its mapping duties on industry, he said. “This will take the heat off some of our national means,” Clapper told industry and military representatives at the conference. NIMA provides geo-spatial intelligence — information and maps about natural and man-made objects that can be observed or referenced on earth. The retired Air Force lieutenant general declined to say what NIMA would spend on commercial imagery in 2003. But he said the change would improve coalition building and strengthen U.S. homeland defense. Because commercial imagery is unclassified, it can more easily be shared with allies, as well as state and local policy-makers and emergency officials, Clapper said. Still, commercial imagery does not come cheap, he said. “We need to buy it for a specific purpose,” Clapper said. Back |
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coverage Capt. (S) Daniel Clark Duquette Brig. Gen. (S) Frank A. Panter, Jr. |
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