USG underpinning for satellite remote sensing industry?


This seems vaguely policylike:

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http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2008/03/spy-agencies-co.html

Spy Agencies Could Fuel Commercial Satellite Boom
posted by Robert Block on Mar 5, 2008 2:35:39 PM

As Florida and other potential rocket launch sites around the country
pray for a long-awaited boom in the commercial satellite market, U.S.
spy agencies could start snapping up commercial satellites to boost
the nation's ability to snoop on enemies from space, according to a
report published on Wednesday.

The unclassified report, entitled the "Independent Study of the Roles
of Commercial Remote Sensing in the Future National System for
Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG) , " was prepared last year by a panel of
experts called the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Advisory
Group.

[snip]

The gist of the panel's recommendation is that the government should
start making bulk purchases of off-the-shelf commercial satellites and
satellite services for their own use in espionage and intelligence
gathering. If the government were to follow the advice of the panel,
it could provide a huge boost to the commercial satellite market.

[more snip]

The report said that buying commercial satellites would save money and
bolster the government's space assets, adding badly needed redundancy.

"The panel believes that the U.S. government can commercially acquire
robust commercial remote - sensing capabilities to meet minimal
acceptable requirements through the adoption of acquisition strategies
that ' buy ' proven, complex technologies but are modularly designed
so as to maximize flexibility to meet dynamic mission needs," it
concluded.

[Full report] : http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/crs.pdf

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