DHS to Start Satellite Surveillance Program

The Department of Homeland Security doesn’t know if its controversial satellite surveillance program will comply with privacy laws, but the department is still planning to proceed with the first phase.

In an article on the Wall Street Journal website, Siobhan Gorman says “Congress provided partial funding for the program in a little-debated $634 billion spending measure that will fund the government until early March. For the past year, the Bush administration had been fighting Democratic lawmakers over the spy program, known as the National Applications Office.”

What will the program do? Gorman says it will provide federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery (but no eavesdropping) in an attempt to help with emergency response and other domestic security needs.

A new 60-page Government Accountability Office report said the department “lacks assurance that NAO operations will comply with applicable laws and privacy and civil liberties standards.” The report cites gaps in privacy safeguards.

Homeland Security spokesperson Laura Keehner told Gorman department officials concluded that the program “complies with all existing laws” because the GAO report didn’t say the program doesn’t.

To read the full article, click here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282336428992785.html?mod=googlenews_wsj