The Intelligence Community (IC) has reached a consensus allowing commercial satellite imagery companies to sell high resolution imagery, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper said Tuesday.
Clapper told an audience at the GEOINT 2013* conference in Tampa, Fla., the IC submitted its recommendation to the White House, getting the ball rolling through other federal government stakeholders. The Commerce, State and Defense departments will also have to weigh in, Clapper said.
“We have done our thing and reached a consensus, which I think…certainly bodes well for industry,” Clapper said.
The announcement is certainly good news for companies like DigitalGlobe [DGI], which have been pressing the federal government to ease restrictions on selling its highest-quality imagery. Domestic imagers are currently prohibited from selling imagery with resolution better than 50 cm in panchromatic, or black and white; two meters in the multi-spectral and 7.5 meters in shortwave infrared (IR). DigitalGlobe last May petitioned the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to ease these resolution restrictions, which it claimed hampered industry. An email to NOAA for comment on developments was not returned by press time.
DigitalGlobe in August plans to launch its advanced WorldView-3 satellite capable of 31 cm resolution panchromatic, 1.24 meter resolution multi-spectral and potentially 3.7 meter resolution in shortwave IR, according to an April 8 blog post on its website. DigitalGlobe said Ball Aerospace [BLL], manufacturer of WorldView-3, completed thermal vacuum, acoustic, vibration and pyro-separation testing on the satellite and its integrated sensors and electronics to confirm the spacecraft’s design integrity. Electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility will wrap up April 23.
DigitalGlobe Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Walter Scott told Defense Daily last year the company wants the restrictions lifted because companies today can use airplanes to get 5 cm resolution in 90 countries, in addition to foreign competitors providing 50 cm resolution imagery via satellite. Scott added that there were “dozens” of other satellites either in operation, or in preparation, to be launched that operate close to, or in a few cases, better than 50 cm resolution.
Kevin Pomfret, executive director of the Centre for Spatial Law and Policy, which deals with legal and policy issues associated with geospatial data and technology, told Defense Daily last year DoD could be against easing satellite image sharing restrictions because high-quality imaging could possibly identify troop numbers or missions (Defense Daily, Nov. 7).
The IC is composed of 17 separate organizations: CIA, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) office of intelligence and counterintelligence, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) office of intelligence and analysis, the Department of State’s office of intelligence and research, the Department of Treasury’s office of intelligence and research, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), DEA, FBI, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), NSA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Air Force ISR, Army Military Intelligence, Coast Guard Intelligence, Marine Corps Intelligence Activity and Naval Intelligence.