Constitutional question
The role of space in homeland defense is a large task, said John Stammreich, Vice President for Homeland Security at the Boeing Company. Stammreich highlighted the role of Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation of satellites.
GPS has been one of the great assets that is bringing Enduring Freedom to a much more rapid and less deadly from our side experience, Stammreich said. Stammreich said that space surveillance via civilian and the countrys national technical means has seen a "tremendous upsurge" in the war on terrorism.
However, homeland security brings up knotty legal and constitutional issues, Stammreich said. Specifically, care must be taken in use of military forces in law enforcement, he said.
"Theres a lot of issues that have to be handled," Stammreich said. "The ability to bring to bear the full ability of our surveillance assets on orbit needs to be carefully considered," he concluded.
Future terrorism
Joanne Maguire, Deputy and Vice President, Business Development for TRW Space and Electronics, said that homeland defense will make increasing use of government satellite assets.
Maguire said that both military and civilian space assets are essential to "prevent, prepare, protect, and prosecute" specific actions in response to future terrorism.
"Its naive to think that further terrorism wont occur," Maguire said. Spaceborne assets in this interconnected world are crucial for detecting impending terrorist strikes. Its not solely about defending borders, finding and snuffing out terrorist actions is a global problem, she said.
New World
Maguire said that military spacecraft and numbers of NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites that profile the climate, as well as civil weather satellites, can be utilized. They can be used for plotting wind maps of deadly chemical agents in the atmosphere to plotting out evacuation routes.
"Its a New World that weve entered into post 9/11," Maguire said. Satellites can help close the loop of prosecution by analyzing intelligence data, to discern the source of a terrorist action and react with force as needed, she said.
"Government satellites are an essential part of this countrys resilience," Maguire said. Moreover, those satellites need protection, both in a physical and budgetary sense, she said.
Maguire said that NASA and Defense Department abilities in Earth observation are drawing closer together, in terms of working collaboratively.
Satellite imagery on call
Use of spy satellite-quality private satellites in the event of terrorist attacks can prove highly valuable, said Herb Satterlee, President and Chief Executive Officer for Digital Globe. The commercial firm operates the recently lofted QuickBird imaging satellite.
Satterlee underscored the use of high-tech remote sensing via private satellite, powerful resources that can save lives, help respond to emergencies, and to better assess the outcome from a terrorist attack.
However, work is needed, Satterlee said. The current campaign against terrorism has, however, been slowed by the inability to process satellite imagery quickly. He termed it "one of the major challenges" facing private remote sensing satellite operations.
"To get the commercial imagery outthat job is not done yet. Theres significant work still to do," Satterlee said.
Weapons of mass destruction
Panel experts said the potential of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons of mass destruction being used against America cant be discounted.
Maintaining ever-vigil sensors over those countries that have the capacity to create that class of terror weapon is critical, the panelists agreed.
"The best way to cope with it is to identify the sources and using the persistence that space assets provide, monitor those sources very closely," Maguire said. "This is an area down the road where something like space-based radar, can be gainfully employed," she said.
Boeings Stammreich said that space assets "play a very heavy role for collecting information to prevent those things getting over to our shore."
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