Amateurs Identify U.S. Spy Satellite Behind President Trump's Tweet

[swag]

Source: NPR

September 2, 20199:04 AM ET

GEOFF BRUMFIEL

. . .

Hanham says she is amazed a satellite can provide such clear imagery. Spy satellites must peer down through earth's atmosphere, which is a bit like trying to look at objects in the bottom of a swimming pool. They also must snap their pictures while whizzing across the sky. Both effects can blur the fine details in images.

"I'm now scratching my head and curious about how they account for the effects of the atmosphere and motion of the objects," she says.

And she says she thinks she's not alone. Others will be trying to use the image to learn more about how USA 224 works. "I imagine adversaries are going to take a look at this image and reverse-engineer it to figure out how the sensor itself works and what kind of post-production techniques they're using," she says.

Hanham questions whether Trump's tweet zinging the Iranians was worth the information this image provides to other nations, but she adds: "It's his decision as the president."

Read more: satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=space

[jpak]

1. Impeach the motherfucker

Enough already

[mountain grammy]

2. plus a million.

[mysteryowl]

4. +++ a million times over

[Kid Berwyn]

19. It's the least a traitor deserves.

Public channel to Moscow, Pyongyang and all points Manchurian.

[MBS]

23. plus 20 million n/t

[William Seger]

3. Working link

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u-s-spy-satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet

[usaf-vet]

5. He is stupid and doesn't give a SH*T.

He has given away (sold?) more tradecraft secrets than we can imagine.

[mitch96]

12. He is stupid and doesn't give a SH*T.

And Putin laughs as his lackey does his bidding..
m

[usaf-vet]

14. Dead On!

[riversedge]

16. Obviously the #Republicans, @seanHannity, @foxnews etc do not either. ..#but her emails"!

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Trump's watching your backyard

probably can see you on your deck.

Next thing you know bedbugs will be there!

[riversedge]

7. and Republicans spent years and millions dissing on Hillar emailas. Now SILENCE from @GOP!

[pecosbob]

8. Gotta love the slide rule nerds

[LastDemocratInSC]

9. But her emails

[Cicada]

10. Feynman said military secrets only last a year or so

Feynman opposed classifying military technology. He said our enemies get the info within a year but it keeps our own scientists in the dark for many years. Satellite images have been around for more than 50 years. Nothing secret here I bet.

[oasis]

11. Just another Trump major screwup.

[SeattleVet]

13. This is the guy that Scott Manley was talking about. Here's more info:

[Lonestarblue]

15. The intelligence community needs to give him fake intel.

He won’t know the difference, and when he tweets it, shares it with Putin during one of their private phone calls, or exposes it the foreign ambassadors in the Oval Office, no harm will be done.

[MBS]

24. I've often wondered whether they might have already done that, more than once.

And (hopefully) at minimum, only shared with him a very small sample of intel- only things that would be less devastating for him to spill to Russia or Israel or North Korea than the most serious stuff.

The intelligence agencies must be even more appalled than we are. I like to think that they know their "customer" and are protecting our country accordingly.

[Marcuse]

17. Yet another count of impeachment.

[AtheistCrusader]

34. Actually no.

This was always part of the danger of having a human dumpster fire inhabiting the White House. The President/VP have unique and near-total authority to declassify pretty much any damn thing he or she wants.

https://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/cnsi-eo.html#three

Sec. 1.3. Classification Authority.
(a) The authority to classify information
originally may be exercised only by:
(1) the President and the Vice President;
(2) agency heads and officials designated by the President; and
(3) United States Government officials delegated this authority pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section.
(b) Officials authorized to classify information at a specified level are also authorized to classify information at a lower level.
(c) Delegation of original classification authority.
(1) Delegations of original classification authority shall be limited to the minimum required to administer this order. Agency heads are responsible for ensuring that designated subordinate officials have a demonstrable and continuing need to exercise this authority.
(2) ‘‘Top Secret’’ original classification authority may be delegated only by the President, the Vice President, or an agency head or official designated pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of this section.
(3) ‘‘Secret’’ or ‘‘Confidential’’ original classification authority may be delegated only by the President, the Vice President, an agency head or official designated pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of this section, or the senior agency official designated under section 5.4(d) of this order, provided that official has been delegated ‘‘Top Secret’’ original classification authority by the agency head.

[yaesu]

18. reason to impeach number 228, so, are they ready to impeach yet? nt

[lark]

20. It was done on purpose so Moscow and Syria & Iran know our exact capabilities.

There's only one nation that would profit so much from this information and it's Russia for all their client states drumpf continues to put the good of PUtin above the good of the USA, always. He is nothing but a destroyer of democracy and tool of the fascist oligarchs. Hes too stupid to plan anything effective, but his master, PUtin isn't.

[Bengus81]

21. LOL...seriously?!?!?

I can see furniture on my backyard decks with Google Earth pics and those sure as hell aren't from a military satellite.

[kiri]

25. only 7 miles up

Google earth takes pictures from a few hundred feet up, using drones or helicopters. Reading license plates from 1000 miles up is harder, 52,800,000 ft. For scale, commercial airline flights are at about 35,000 ft = ~6½ miles up, +/-.

[Bengus81]

32. Google Earth Pics from a few hundred feet up?---ROFLMAO!!

Some pics on other platforms are shot from aircraft--called like birds eye view and are very limited in coverage. The main pictures of Earth you see in GE are shot from about 400 miles up by Digital Globe.

[AtheistCrusader]

33. There are layers as you zoom. Terraserver has the same stuff mostly.

Lot of overlapping visual inventory. Both even use low altitude drones for some areas. (Always expanding)

[Brother Buzz]

26. You can ID furniture on your deck only because you know it was there

If you could view the original satellite data, you could glean a whole lot more information, like whether it was an upright chair or a chaise lounge, and if it had armrests and cushions.

[AllaN01Bear]

22. he dosent give a hoot revealing secret things like satelites or people

[orangecrush]

27. Broken link.

[Newest Reality]

28. I have to add that to my Twilght Zone list...

A person "acting", as President of the United States seriously compromising our national security. WOW! Whooda thunkit?

Wow! I mean, really, WOW! I don't think I would have been able to imagine that happening and now...WOW, it has. Not only is reality stranger than we think, it is stranger than we CAN think, as the saying goes.

I am just waiting for Rod Serling to appear now and do the narrative. Tap, tap, tap...

[NonPC]

29. Solidad Was Right

She said it all. The guy is a moron.

[OrwellwasRight]

30. Or, knows exactly what he is doing.

Or both.

[SpankMe]

31. Assuming the amateur analysis is correct..

...foreign intel agencies have probably already figured all this out - and more - and far before this image was released.

Although Trump is a tone deaf, clueless, traitorous moron, this image itself doesn't provide a whole lot that betrays US imaging capabilities.

The problem I see is that - again, assuming the amateur analysis is valid - it fills in a few more blanks that allow adversaries to paint a better picture of certain capabilities and potentially develop countermeasures.

Can you imagine what the GOP would have done if Hillary had released such and image in this way? The non-equivalent standards are just stunning.

[Nitram]

35. My understanding is that the photos must have been taken by either a drone or a very high-flying spy

plane because satellites cannot record that level of detail.