Spy Agency Contracts Awarded to Commercial Satellite Firms

MAY 25 2022·Updated JAN 2 2023

Story

Image credit: Maxar Technologies/Reuters [via The Washington Post]

The Facts

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the US intelligence agency that operates the nation's spy satellites, will award billions of dollars in contracts over the next decade to three commercial satellite companies: Maxar, BlackSky, and Planet.
wapo
The NRO acknowledged the contracts were a "historic expansion" of its acquisition strategy and stated that the increasing availability of commercial companies' imagery will improve the agency's resilience and enable an integrated approach to national security.
CNBC
The agency has also said that the awards come under the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer program, which will support 500k federal civil agency users.
Via Satellite
The Pentagon and intelligence agencies are increasingly relying on imagery from commercial satellite companies to aid in spying, warfare, and humanitarian efforts. The war in Ukraine has been deemed "the world's first satellite spy war", with the technology recording troop movements and missile attacks in real time.
Centre for International Governance Innovation

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

This is a win-win situation. The government still designs and operates the most exquisite and cutting-edge intelligence satellites, but commercial companies can offer ways to cheaply cover much of the world. Because the commercial images are unclassified, intelligence agencies can share data and collaborate more easily with allies and partners.

nytimes

Establishment-critical narrative

Commercial satellite imagery technology must be regulated. The government needs to impose stricter limits on commercial satellite technology. Soon, anyone from ad companies to terrorist organizations could be monitoring innocent citizens using technology previously reserved for government intelligence agencies. It is a slippery slope to this Orwellian distopia.

MIT Technology Review