Spy Imagery Agency Prepares to Record Rita

[CBGLuthier]

BETHESDA, Md. - Peering from space using the government's most covert satellites, a little-known spy agency is turning its cameras toward Hurricane Rita and the destruction it is expected to inflict on the Gulf Coast.


Images the agency captured after Katrina struck included a gas rig that vanished from the sea leaving only bubbles, broken levees and a house in seemingly good condition — except it was upside-down.

"And here comes Rita," said Lynne Puetz, who heads the office overseeing North and South America for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

A part of the Defense Department, the agency usually toils behind the scenes to provide the images and analysis of what's happening in other countries, including weapons tests. Among the government's most closely guarded secrets, the quality of pictures from its satellites is believed to far exceed the 1-meter resolution available commercially.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050922/ap_on_sc/hurricanes_spies__eyes

[Field Of Dreams]

1. Say "Cheese" kids!

eom

[DCDemo]

2. Exceed the 1 meter resolution indeed

I live less than a mile from there...used to be called the Defense Mapping Agency, and I have a good friend with friends who work there.

15 years ago, they could tell a guy was smoking on Key Bridge.

Now, they can tell he has skin cancer....

[AX10]

3. Smile!

[samsingh]

4. all these agencies, and they couldn't stop 911 or catch bin laden

strange.

[TroubleMan]

5. Why would they stop their main paycheck?

9/11 brought tons of money into those agencies. If they work too well, and end terrorism, then they'll be out of a job.

Without "the need" to protect us from bin ladin and his ilk, we wouldn't need those agencies.