The National Applications Office (NAO) was a United States Department of Homeland Security program that provided local, state, and federal officials extensive access to spy-satellite imagery.[1] It had access to military satellites to observe the United States.
Detailsedit
The NAO was described as a clearinghouse for requests by law enforcement, border security, and other domestic homeland security agencies to access feeds from spy satellites that had collected data for mainly scientific and military uses in the past. The name of the agency had been described as "deceptive."[2]
Access to spy satellite surveillance tools allowed Homeland Security and law enforcement officials to see real-time, high-quality images. Which allowed them to identify gang safehouses, border smuggler staging areas, or even hideouts of would-be terrorists. The spy surveillance satellites were considered by military experts to be far more powerful than those that were currently available to civilian officials. They could take color photos, see through cloud cover and forest canopies, and used different parts of the light spectrum to locate traces left by chemical weapons. However, the full capabilities of these systems are among the most carefully held governmental secrets.
In October 2, 2007, the United States Congress had filed an injunction against the NAO, that ordered it not to begin operations, due to concerns about civil liberty issues. Some[which?] in Congress wanted to shut down the agency due to concerns that the satellites could be used to create a "Big Brother" in the sky directed at anyone's house, place of worship or school.[3]
The NAO's charter was signed in February 2008. On November 9, 2008, the Government Accountability Office released a recommendation that the NAO's role be more strictly defined. This might be seen as evidence[according to whom?] that the aforementioned civil liberty issues have not been sufficiently addressed.
national, applications, office, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, . This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources National Applications Office news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article contains content that is written like an advertisement Please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view February 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message The National Applications Office NAO was a United States Department of Homeland Security program that provided local state and federal officials extensive access to spy satellite imagery 1 It had access to military satellites to observe the United States Details editThe NAO was described as a clearinghouse for requests by law enforcement border security and other domestic homeland security agencies to access feeds from spy satellites that had collected data for mainly scientific and military uses in the past The name of the agency had been described as deceptive 2 Access to spy satellite surveillance tools allowed Homeland Security and law enforcement officials to see real time high quality images Which allowed them to identify gang safehouses border smuggler staging areas or even hideouts of would be terrorists The spy surveillance satellites were considered by military experts to be far more powerful than those that were currently available to civilian officials They could take color photos see through cloud cover and forest canopies and used different parts of the light spectrum to locate traces left by chemical weapons However the full capabilities of these systems are among the most carefully held governmental secrets In October 2 2007 the United States Congress had filed an injunction against the NAO that ordered it not to begin operations due to concerns about civil liberty issues Some which in Congress wanted to shut down the agency due to concerns that the satellites could be used to create a Big Brother in the sky directed at anyone s house place of worship or school 3 The NAO s charter was signed in February 2008 On November 9 2008 the Government Accountability Office released a recommendation that the NAO s role be more strictly defined This might be seen as evidence according to whom that the aforementioned civil liberty issues have not been sufficiently addressed In 2009 Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano terminated the office 4 References edit Satellite Surveillance Program to Begin Despite Privacy Concerns by Siobhan Gorman Wall Street Journal retrieved October 2 2008 Politico June 12 2009 http www politico com news stories 0609 23664 html Politico June 12 2009 http www politico com news stories 0609 23664 html Secretary Napolitano Announces Decision to End National Applications Office Program Homeland Security External links editNational Applications Office Fact Sheet Department of Homeland Security August 15 2007 U S Reconnaissance Satellites Domestic Targets Documents Describe Use of Satellites in Support of Civil Agencies and Longstanding Controversy National Security Archive The George Washington University April 11 2008 Satellite Surveillance Domestic Issues Congressional Research Service March 21 2008 National Applications Office Charter Government Accountability Office Recommendations nbsp This United States government related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title National Applications Office amp oldid 1189721342, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
