Missing Iranian Scientist Shows Up In Washington

An interesting turn of events. Shahram Amiri, the missing Iranian nuclear scientist, was probably some sort of double agent and the U.S. figured it out.  Basically, Amiri would have first given himself over to U.S. agents through the Saudis while posing as a nuclear scientist seeking a way out of Iran. In reality, he would [...]

UAV Manpower

from the Air Force Association on-line magazine: “If it takes about 170 personnel today to operate one combat air patrol of MQ-1 or MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft, how many are needed for a single high-flying RQ-4 Global Hawk CAP? Maj. Richard Johnson, Air Force spokesman for intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance issues, tells the Daily Report that the number [...]

Wrap It Up: We’ll Take Two Exquisite NRO Satellites

Space News reports  House leader Dutch Ruppersberger thinks House and Senate plans to approve “exquisite” electro-optical imaging capability is likely.  That effort would support the White House’s plan and is in conflict with Senators Bond and Feinstein who want a more commercial-based capability. Also dribbling out are a few details for the exquisite system which boost its [...]

Tanks For The Memories. Kenya Dig It?

Piracy has been joined by intelligence in the fee-for-service realm. Anyone, or any nation-state, with a credit card now has an excellent chance to buy top-notch overheads. Add analysis in the form of people paying attention and bam! you have intel.

Fade To Black For The NRO?

Colin Clark at DoD Buzz reports on the most recent blue-ribbon panel to review the NRO. While the panel has compiled their results and presented them to Dennis Blair, the DNI, it will be interesting to see if they opt for revolution or evolution. Many of the panel’s members have deep ties to the NRO [...]