Napolitano Blinds One Government Eye-in-the-Sky

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ended the National Applications Office program, a rather deceptive name for a program for using earth-observing satellites to spy on Americans.

Originally created in 1974 as the Civil Applications Committee to facilitate the use of remote sensing satellites for purposes of earth environmental study and monitoring, the Committee’s function was expanded in 2005 to include homeland security and law enforcement applications, including domestic surveillance. In 2006, then Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff morphed the Civil Applications Committee into the National Applications Office, promising that the Office’s domestic surveillance programs would be conducted in manner to “ensure the appropriate protection of privacy and civil liberties.” The extent to which the National Applications Office actually conducted domestic satellite surveillance, if at all, is not known.

According to Sec. Napolitano, further operations of the National Applications Office were being ended in order to allow the Department of Homeland Security to better attend to “more urgent priorities,” including the federal, state and local cooperative National Suspicious Reporting (SAR) Initiative.

“Over the past several months, we have worked closely with our state, local and territorial homeland security partners to determine how our Department can best support their priorities,” said Sec. Napolitano in a press release. “This action will allow us to focus our efforts on more effective information sharing programs that better meet the needs of law enforcement, protect the civil liberties and privacy of all Americans, and make our country more secure.”

Also See:
TSA Detains Ron Paul Campaigner for Carrying Cash
TSA Expands Whole Body Scanner Searches
Terrorist Surveillance vs. Civil Liberties (Civil Liberties)

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