Spying From Space: U.S. to Sharpen the Focus

Anyone wondering where U.S. military investment is
headed need look no farther than the next generation of spy
satellites that are being built now and will start going into orbit
in 2005.

The estimated 20-year price tag is $25 billion, making this
program the most expensive venture ever mounted by U.S.
intelligence services. In comparison, the Manhattan project, the
World War II crash program to build the atomic bomb, cost
$20 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.

For its money, Washington expects to get a new system of
electronic cameras that can be trained on potential trouble spots
anywhere on the planet on a couple of hours’ notice or less. It
will be “an incredible improvement” in America’s ability to spy
from the sky, a U.S. official said in Washington. He said the
satellites would be able to track objects as small as a baseball
anywhere, anytime on the planet.

European nations argue that the EU ought to put up its own network of spy satellites to prevent reliance on US data. Germany has been vocal about the exposure of its troops in the Balkans to needless risk because of inadequate access to US intelligence data. International Herald Tribune