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US scraps costly spy satellite
22/06/2007 07:29 - (SA)
Katherine Shrader
Washington - Spy chief Mike McConnell has cancelled a multibillion-dollar US spy satellite programme that engineers hoped would someday pass undetected through the space above other nations.
The move from the director of national intelligence comes after several years of congressional efforts to kill the programme, known publicly as the next generation of "Misty" satellites. The new satellite was to be a stealthy intelligence spacecraft designed to take pictures of adversaries and avoid detection.
Little is known about the classified US network of satellites, which represent some of the most expensive government programmes and receive almost no public oversight. Because of their multibillion-dollar price tags, sensitive missions and lengthy development schedules, spy agencies go to great pains to keep details from becoming public.
McConnell gave no reason for his recent decision. Despite the programme's secrecy, he almost dared further inquiry into it.
Speaking on Tuesday to an intelligence conference on workplace diversity, McConnell changed the subject and ended his speech by saying: "I have been advised when I was getting ready for this job, you have to do two things: kill a multibillion-dollar programme. Just did that. Word is not out yet. You'll see soon.
"And fire somebody important. So I'm searching," he added in jest, getting a laugh from the crowd.
'Not worth the huge amount of money'
Asked during a Q&A session to elaborate on which programme he cut, McConnell declined to comment. His spokesperson Steve Shaw also declined to comment on Thursday, but he noted that the director had the power to make this type of budget decision.
Loren Thompson, a defence expert with the Lexington Institute, said he was told by an industry source this month that the programme to build the Misty satellites was ending. He said the satellite's true name is not publicly known, but it has been assigned a designation of a letter followed by numbers.
The Associated Press separately confirmed the programme was cut.
"People are thinking it is just not worth the huge amount of money it is sucking in," Thompson said.
Speaking generally, Thompson said promises of faster, smaller, cheaper satellites - hopes that became common during the Clinton administration - have been confounded by the laws of physics. The technology simply wasn't able to meet expectations.
The new generation of Misty satellites was born from the belief that stealth technology would be crucial to deceiving adversaries, since many states are aware when US satellites are passing overhead and can change their behaviour accordingly.
Yet the threat has changed in recent years, as the United States became more concerned about difficult-to-track terror cells and underground sites for nuclear programmes run by countries such as Iran and North Korea.
- SAPA
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