Bills Would Kill DHS Satellite Surveillance Office

The controversial National Applications Office (NAO) may soon be no more. A new report says a senior House Democrat has introduced legislation that would see the program – which makes intelligence and military satellite imagery available to civilian agencies – killed.

In an article on the Federal Computer Week website, Ben Bain says Rep. Jane Harman, who is chairwoman of the Homeland Security Committee’s Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment Subcommittee, introduced the bill last week, which would require the Department of Homeland Security to immediately close the NAO.

The office originally was set up to offer access to satellite imagery for homeland security, emergency response and possibly law enforcement purposes. According to Bain, NAO’s charter gave the office no authority to accept requests to acquire or intercept communications, and DHS officials have said NAO would not do so.

“However, privacy advocates worried the program could be used to spy on Americans and lawmakers who want more information on how the program will be run have fought the program’s advancement,” Bain adds.

Despite DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s promise earlier this year to review the NAO program, Harman has gone ahead with introducing the legislation, saying the DHS has funding for the NAO in the classified annex to its fiscal 2010 budget. Harman said the NAO program lacks a clear legal framework, and that law enforcement officials haven’t asked for the additional capabilities the powerful military and intelligence satellites could provide them.

“Imagine, for a moment, what it would be like if one of these satellites were directed on your neighborhood or home, a school or place of worship – and without an adequate legal framework or operating procedures in place for regulating their use,” Harman said. “I daresay the reaction might be that Big Brother has finally arrived and the black helicopters can’t be far behind.”

To read the full article, click here: http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/06/05/Web-NAO-Harman-legislation.aspx