A little-known spy agency that analyzes imagery taken from the skies has been
spending significantly more time watching US soil.
![Reitired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper, outgoing head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the agency's headquarters in Bethesda, Md. thursday, May 11, 2006 Clapper said the work the agency did after hurricanes Rita and Katrina was the best he'd seen an intelligence agency do his 42 years in the spy business. [AP Photo]](xin_4505031320418161777358.jpg)
Reitired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper,
outgoing head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, speaks
during an interview with the Associated Press at the agency's headquarters
in Bethesda, Md. thursday, May 11, 2006 Clapper said the work the agency
did after hurricanes Rita and Katrina was the best he'd seen an
intelligence agency do his 42 years in the spy business. [AP
Photo] |
In an era when other intelligence agencies try to hide those operations, the
director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, retired Air Force Lt.
Gen. James Clapper, is proud of that domestic mission.
He said the work the agency did after hurricanes Rita and Katrina was the
best he'd seen an intelligence agency do in his 42 years in the spy business.
"This was kind of a direct payback to the taxpayers for the investment made
in this agency over the years, even though in its original design it was
intended for foreign intelligence purposes," Clapper said in a Thursday
interview with The Associated Press.
Geospatial intelligence is the science of combining imagery, such as
satellite pictures, to physically depict features or activities happening
anywhere on the planet. A part of the Defense Department, the NGA usually
operates unnoticed to provide information on nuclear sites, terror camps, troop
movements or natural disasters.
After last year's hurricanes, the agency had an unusually public face. It set
up mobile command centers that sprung out of the backs of Humvees and provided
imagery for rescuers and hurricane victims who wanted to know the condition of
their homes. Victims would provide their street address and the NGA would
provide a satellite photo of their property. In one way or another, some 900
agency officials were involved.
Spy agencies historically avoided domestic operations out of concern for
Pentagon regulations and Reagan-era executive order, known as 12333, that
restricted intelligence collection on American citizens and companies. Its
budget, like all intelligence agencies, is classified.
On Clapper's
watch of the last five years, his agency has found ways to expand its mission to
help prepare security at Super Bowls and political conventions or deal with
natural disasters, such as hurricanes and forest fires.
With help, the agency can also zoom in. Its officials cooperate with private
groups, such as hotel security, to get access to footage of a lobby or ballroom.
That video can then be linked with mapping and graphical data to help secure
events or take action, if a hostage situation or other catastrophe happens.
