IKONOS SATELLITE IMAGES DEALT EXCLUSIVELY TO NIMA
News media have protested contract between Space Imaging and National Imagery & Mapping Agency (NIMA) that excludes them from receiving satellite images of Afghanistan taken by Ikonos, most powerful commercial imaging satellite. In Oct. 18 letter to Secy. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters without borders [RSF]) said contract was “a way of disguised censorship aimed at preventing the media from doing their monitoring job.” RTNDA was drafting its own letter to DoD, spokeswoman said: “We're disappointed that the government would use taxpayers dollars to purchase images that have material of interest to the public, in order to keep it away from them… These images could certainly show what is happening with the movement of refugees and how the military campaign is affecting Afghanistan.”
Thirty-day contract was signed Oct. 7 and is valued at $1.91 million, NIMA spokesman said. Renewable deal provides agency access to Ikonos, but contract stipulates that it pay additional $20 per km for any images it purchases, with minimum purchase level of 10,000 km. NIMA already has bought images from Space Imaging and will use them in support of U.S. and coalition forces working together in Operation Enduring Freedom, spokesman said: “We didn’t do it primarily to censor… It is true we are interested in operational security and we get that as an additional benefit.”
Officials of both NIMA and Space Imaging insist that contract was entered into voluntarily, primarily because “it made business sense.” Contract far exceeds value from customers requiring new images over central Asia, said Mark Brender, exec. dir.-govt. affairs for Space Imaging: “This is a solid business transaction that also brings great value to the government.” NIMA spokesman agreed Space Imaging wasn’t obligated by law to make exclusive rights deal, but said it was simply, “a decision between 2 business partners.”
Officials of Commerce and State Depts. were unavailable, but NIMA spokeswoman said if contract hadn’t been signed, “shutter control” could have been alternate option for govt. Shutter control allows govt. to cut off access to images whenever State Dept. or Pentagon deems it necessary. RTNDA spokeswoman said rules were unconstitutional and violation of First Amendment.
Central Asia is not high demand area, Brender said, but Space Imaging continues to provide commercial services to customers in region with imagery taken by Ikonos satellite before Sept. 11: “Most customers do not need imagery taken within the last month and can rely instead on the value proposition offered by archived imagery.” Geographic area to which NIMA has exclusive rights is “in support of Enduring Freedom,” spokesman said, but specific countries “are in a classified annex.”
NIMA said it would use Ikonos to handle lower priority items and for other time-sensitive operations. Because of unclassified nature of images, there would be many uses for satellite, spokesman said: “They could be quickly turned over to coalition members, or to international aid agencies, because it’s unclassified information.”
Space Imaging has sold imagery since Jan. 2000. This was first major conflict in which govt. has purchased data rights and imaging time on Ikonos satellite, Brender said, and NIMA spokesman said it was first U.S. commercial satellite of that quality: “With [images from Ikonos] you can tell whether something is concrete or asphalt, or how hard or soft the ground is.”