Why is this a political hit piece instead of an article? Thanks for the two facts about the agency, but were half dozen or so attacks on the POTUS really necessary? If anything, the previous POTUS, a constitutional scholar that campaigned on ending domestic surveillance, has recently relaxed the rules on espionage by allowing non-intelligence agencies to access surveillance data. Furthermore, I don't think it's fair to turn an article about a little-known government agency into bullshit click bait propaganda. Either title the post "look at what Trump can do with the nation's aerial and spatial espionage agency" or make it substantially about that. This is pure click bait garbage, and it is disguised as being of interest to this community to spread propaganda. I would be fine with an opinion or two thrown in there, but making the first two paragraphs about the agency and the rest of it an opinion and hit piece is just a waste of everyone's time. Thanks for the garbage post.
It's not for lack of effort that NGA is not more widely known. In fact NGA has a pretty great portal for NGA specific consumer applications which leverage unclassified GEOINT capabilities:<p><a href="https://apps.nga.mil/Home" rel="nofollow">https://apps.nga.mil/Home</a><p>Not all are great, but some of the apps are really useful and valuable.<p>It's a huge and hugely valuable organization that has started to become the analysis backbone for current intelligence - largely because decision makers want photos.<p>The AF and NRO run the satellite system, but pretty much everything valuable that is in Low Earth Orbit that takes "pictures" is processed and analyzed through the NGA - then fused and productized with all source data from CIA/DIA/NSA.<p>Truly invaluable organization - if bloated (like everything in the USG).
The NGA is up there with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in lack of public exposure. The NRO launches a lot of the satellites the NGA also uses for GEOINT and spying in general. NRO launches are part of the public record, but their missions are almost never revealed, and all clandestine in nature. The launch craft and missions are frequently given ... frankly villainous names and logos ... I wish I was jesting, but take a look for yourself: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches</a> . I don't know how else to describe a mission with a motto like "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach" with a Cthulu-entity as the figurehead - for a government agency mission no less.<p>People are always sort of disbelieving when I show them this sort of thing, in plain day. I can't figure out how the media has managed to never capitalize on this.
Actually it's very well known in terms of MASIN and GEOINT. I once even interviewed with them back in the day, and they don't do a lot to hide their presence. I think they're not in the news a lot because what NGIA does and what Google and a lot of private satellite imagery companies do, is really the same.
>With the capability to watch an area of 10 or even 15 square miles at a time, it would take just two drones hovering over Manhattan to continuously observe and follow all outdoor human activity, night and day.<p>This is not correct. Manhattan has tall buildings which are a great defense against arial surveillance. They also do not do active monitoring. So if you travel more than 10 - 15 miles, you would end up entering or exiting their surveillance radius, which means they couldn't link your entire set of actions together.<p>Further, the resolution is not very good. They can currently trace back cars and humans walking, but the features are not great. So if you were to board a bus and exit the bus, and you weren't wearing some very distinct color (or you took off your jacket), you would be lost to them.<p>The company that provides this service is called PSS. I do not like them very much. [1]<p>1. <a href="https://www.pss-1.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.pss-1.com/</a>
Page 60 of <i>Coup d'État</i> by Edward Luttwak describes a large number of US intelligence agencies, the nominal hierarchy, and (I think) the actual hierarchy.<p>The NGA is in there, interestingly, along with a bunch of others I never thought existed.
I'm pretty sure I did a ton of work for these folks. In about 1994 or 1995 was the boss a woman? If so, yeah, I know these people and have some stories that I can share because in spite of their desire to get me to get clearance, I didn't. Which was a good choice on my part but wasn't that clear at the time.<p>If these are the same people, in 1994 they could read 3 inch headlines from a satellite. That was the stuff I worked on.<p>Edit: in reading through the thread I wonder if the people I knew were the NRO.
Are journalists just going to do this with every agency in the IC now? FEW KNOW THAT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT TRACKS MONEY LAUNDERING, COULD TRUMP COME AFTER YOUR WELLS FARGO ACCOUNT?
This agency is not secret; in fact, Google Earth (aka Keyhole) was a startup they backed:<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyhole,_Inc" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyhole,_Inc</a>
I'm no fan of trump or his propensity to bend the rules. But this article is prophecizing doomsday scenarios with far too much gusto to be taken seriously.<p>Yes, I learned of a stealthily intelligence agency, but also learned that today's news outlets don't really have editorial integrity
>The NGA is to pictures what the NSA is to voices. Its principal function is to analyze the billions of images and miles of video captured by drones in the Middle East and spy satellites circling the globe.<p>Eh, what? What does the National Reconnaissance Office do, then? I thought that was their job.
Here's the video referenced in the intro where Obama doesn't know what the NGA is: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7tG48iTj4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7tG48iTj4</a>
Googling "NGA" gets me the following, in order:<p>1. A Chinese gaming forum<p>2. The spy agency's official Twitter mouth piece<p>3. The spy agency's own website<p>4. National Governors Association<p>5. Spy agency's Wikipedia article<p>That's some fine reverse-SEO work right there.
"The NGA is to pictures what the NSA is to voices. Its principal function is to analyze the billions of images and miles of video captured by drones in the Middle East and spy satellites circling the globe. But because it has largely kept its ultra-high-resolution cameras pointed away from the United States, according to a variety of studies, the agency has never been involved in domestic spy scandals like its two far more famous siblings, the CIA and the NSA."<p>The rest is political fluff.
(editing comment since it is inaccurate)<p>For those interested, the original Youtube interaction is in the link posted in the child comment.<p>[2]: <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2009/05/in-which-the-president-discovers-an-american-intelligence-agency-at-five-guys-018755" rel="nofollow">http://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2009/05/in-which-the...</a>
"one million terabytes per day" from two drones. The private sector should get their hands on This RF technology.<p>Edit: this was a joke. I imagine that is getting close to the Shannon limit with available RF spectrum.
Note that the UK had had CCTV for years now, which is a lower tech version of the same thing. It's not all that hypothetical, and we can at least look to it for consequences.
Is this philosophically any different than London converting nearly every square meter with cameras? The technology is better but essentially it's an air camera system.
Read the article and it made me think about just how long the US hegemony will last, it's array of tools deployed against the rest of humanity is vast:<p>- It blackmails the rest of the globe with the biggest nuclear deterrence across land, sea, air and probably space.<p>- It ensures trading routes remain open by muscling American naval and air superiority. Not to benefit others or play fair, it's there to benefit American interests.<p>- It actively undermines and spies under 3 letter acronyms, including it's own citizens and allies to benefit American corporarchy [1]<p>- It consistently outspends the rest of the world combined on it's military upkeep which guarantees it's #1 postion.<p>Just how long on earth will such superficially-democratic superpower maintain it's hegemony? It's like holding everyone hostage and telling them to trade with each other by selling their own clothing or body with the US taking a cut on every transaction.<p>This is fucked.<p>[1]: <a href="http://amslang.enacademic.com/2064/corporarchy" rel="nofollow">http://amslang.enacademic.com/2064/corporarchy</a>