Senators' Comments Suggest Existence Of Secret Space Program

Cryptic comments by two Democrats on the Senate floor about a major program in the fiscal year 2005 intelligence authorization conference report point to a secret space effort of some kind that has been under way for years, but which has been unknown to the public, analysts said.

Sens. Jay Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) both criticized the program without naming it on Dec. 8 during debate on the fiscal year 2005 intelligence authorization bill.

Rockefeller said it was "totally unjustified and very, very wasteful." He said the Senate has voted for the past two years to kill it, "only to be overruled in the appropriations conference." While the new intelligence authorization conference report fully authorizes the effort, Rockefeller said, it is "unjustified and stunningly expensive."

Wyden agreed, and said "numerous independent reviews have concluded that the program does not fulfill a major intelligence gap or shortfall, and the original justification for developing this technology has eroded in importance due to the changed practices and capabilities of our adversaries. There are a number of other programs in existence and in development whose capabilities can match those envisioned for this program at far less cost and technological risk."




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What little documentation that's available can be viewed at:

www.fas.org...

Mr. ROCKEFELLER. ...In the time I have been vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I have worked hard to try to make sure that
funds are channeled to where they ought to be in intelligence. For this
reason, and with a great deal of reluctance, I am going to oppose the
fiscal year 2005 intelligence authorization conference report....

My decision to take this somewhat unprecedented action is based
solely on my strenuous objection--shared by many in our committee--to a
particular major funding acquisition program that I believe is totally
unjustified and very wasteful and dangerous to national security.

Because of the highly classified nature of the programs contained in
the national intelligence budget, I cannot talk about them on the
floor. But the Senate has voted for the past 2 years to terminate the
program of which I speak, only to be overruled in the appropriations
conference. The intelligence authorization conference report that I
expect to be before the Senate later today fully authorizes funding for
this unjustified and stunningly expensive acquisition. I simply cannot
overlook that.

My decision is shared by a number of my colleagues. Speaking for
myself, if we are asked to fund this particular program next year, I
will seriously consider and probably will ask the Senate to go into
closed session so the Senators can understand, fully debate, become
informed upon, and then vote on termination of this very wasteful
acquisition program.

Anybody have any ideas as to what this "very wasteful acquisition program" might be?

Based on my sources it is all about "star wars" technology and missile defense similar to Ft Greely. Dems are "upset" because they can't coop the money to buy votes.

Originally posted by DrHoracid
Based on my sources it is all about "star wars" technology and missile defense ....

That was my initial reaction, too, DrH, but SDI has been mentioned on the Floor many times. Do you think Sen. Rockefeller was grandstanding for effect, or could this "acquisition" to which he refers be something over and above the "Star Wars" system we all know about?

Originally posted by sandge

Originally posted by DrHoracid
Based on my sources it is all about "star wars" technology and missile defense ....

That was my initial reaction, too, DrH, but SDI has been mentioned on the Floor many times. Do you think Sen. Rockefeller was grandstanding for effect, or could this "acquisition" to which he refers be something over and above the "Star Wars" system we all know about?

SDI is generic. He was refering to something specific. Perhaps HAARP's planned expansion.............

maybe the serie stargate sg1 is used as a cover to say well you revering to the tv serie we don't have such a thing but they have and that stargate.
as allmost all space related things are under Airforce juristiction and space command to I believe this can be such a thing. but as it is highly classified the senator may not say what it is but if he is against it he can say there is a wastefull project ...

just like the senator in the serie which is against the project but works with the NID :S

but it can be but it Starwars related things are more of a explaination.
If what I said above is sort of true it may just connect the dots to the story somewhere elso on ATS about some sort of gate ??? Dr .... wo? wu? I don't know name and can't find it so quick on ats search but I think some know what I mean.

What is said about the program is that it consists of little drone "spce mines" that can be released from our crafts to seek out lock onto and either monitor, re-direct or destroy other space craft.
Now for a little inside peek. Both shuttle losses happened after military modifications. Not enough money to build a spy deep space plane? No problem lets gut the inside bracing out of the Challenge, stuff in the Hubble lense train and hope like hell everything holds together.
Our Democrates have been auctioning to the highest bidder again.
We really need to change our government from lobbiest/autioneers to representatives of their people, kind of like a REPUBLIC. At the very least lets get more actors into politics and let the retired lawyers go home.

Originally posted by DrHoracid
Based on my sources it is all about "star wars" technology and missile defense similar to Ft Greely. Dems are "upset" because they can't coop the money to buy votes.

And what has that got to do with "acquisition"? Don't you think acquisition means "getting information" instead? Acquisition is not destruction of incomers, but rather becoming in possession of why, what for, how, and when then come here. The US (as well as others) government is knowing certain things, and they're just willing to know the rest now. But it will be difficult and expensive, if it has not to be long. We all know what they don't want to admit, and before they "know" (officially that is), it will be a long time of political debates. This data "acquisition" will be long and expensive.

A thread on this issue (senators hinting at secret spy sat program) already exists in the government projects forum:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

That older thread has many links that provide a variety of opinions on what this program actually is

FAS just sent out a statement about this, which states in part:

The secret program was pegged as a low-observable stealth satellite
reconnaissance program by John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. The
projected program cost has nearly doubled to $9.5 billion, Dana Priest
of the Washington Post reported on December 11, probably making it the
largest single item in the U.S. intelligence budget.

So for the technologically impaired among us...are we spending $9.5 billion on space cameras?

The "Star Wars" program was my initial reaction as well. Most people have heard of it, if it were more secret than that I doubt it'd be mentioned at all. That's just my opinion though...

Anybody have any ideas as to what this "very wasteful acquisition program" might be?

It seems to me that there was a space program that was launched called "Operation Deep Impact" - could be the one he is talking about. Let me see if I can pull up the info on this again.

Okay...

deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov...


Now I was always curious about this research. I wonder if he thinks it is a waste of our money - if this is the one he is talking about? Anyway, I know that there are some PHA's that are going to be dangerously close in the future, I can't remember when; I will have to go back and check that again too.

Starwars? I mean, it is utterly useless in practice and increasinly expensive. The enemy can still attack the United States and Star-Wars will not be a reliable deterent.

Granted it is created, other superpowers will just creat deterents for it themselves.

Another arms race.

Deep

Originally posted by ZeroDeep
Starwars? I mean, it is utterly useless in practice and increasinly expensive. The enemy can still attack the United States and Star-Wars will not be a reliable deterent.
Deep

With the bugs ironed out it is a great detourant and most likely will get the job done.

Granted it is created, other superpowers will just creat deterents for it themselves.

And most likely go bankrupt doing so�

Eventually it will work and whether it has to be 'faked' at first it will bring peace of mind to many people around the world and keeps savage countries in check.


[edit on 14-12-2004 by ChrisRT]

The National Security Archive claims that the "acquisition" is the stealth satellite described in this book. An excerpt follows:

U.S. space reconnaissance systems were the primary means of collecting intelligence on Iraq and Kuwait, particularly in the period before military action began. Of particular importance were the imagery satellites the United States had in operation. Three KH-11s were in orbit, although the oldest, launched in 1984, had limited capability.

In addition, there was a satellite, known by ... the code name ONYX, that had been launched in December 1988. Earlier, it (or the program to produce it) had been known as LACROSSE; and before that INDIGO. It was the program that nine years earlier the OD&E had tried to kill by offering to put a radar imagery capability on future versions of the KH-11. Rather than passively depending on reflected visible light or heat to produce imagery, ONYX... relied on the active radio pulses it generated and then received back from its target.... its imagery was not stored in a capsule but transmitted to a relay satellite and then back to the United States. Although the resulting imagery was not in the same class as that of the KH-11, with a resolution of three to five feet, ONYX did have two major advantages. The KH-11 could not produce imagery in the presence of significant cloud cover, which prevented light or heat from reaching the spacecraft sensors, but ONYX could. And whereas the KH-11's visible light sensors were of little value during darkness, radar imagery systems worked well at night.

ONYX had been developed and built by Martin Marietta under the supervision of the Air Force Office of Special Projects, but there was another imagery satellite in orbit--and that was an OD&E product. When first launched from the space shuttle Atlantis on March 1, 1990, it was believed to be the first advanced KH-11 spacecraft (the first of which would be launched in 1992). Within weeks, both U.S. and Soviet sources reported it had malfunctioned and would make a "fiery reentry . . . in the next 30 days."

Both assessments were wrong. The payload was a stealth imaging satellite code-named MISTY, which had been developed under the supervision of the DS&T's development and engineering office.

MISTY was one of at least two satellites developed in exceptional secrecy subsequent to the 1983 Reagan administration decision to establish a stealth satellite program....

...A Threat Assessment Branch ... in the OSWR Space Systems Division ... produced an analysis that supported the idea that MISTY could be successful--it argued that Soviet radars and cameras were not very capable and were unlikely to track the satellite. But because the program was so highly compartmented, OD&E did not consult several agencies that had experience in satellite tracking--including the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), whose engineers might have provided a different assessment about MISTY'S vulnerability to detection.

A clue to possible U.S. government interest in stealth satellites was supplied just weeks after MISTY'S launch. To the anger of many in the NRO, a patent application was filed, apparently by the SDIO, for a "Satellite Signature Suppression Shield." The application described an inflatable shield that could protect satellites from detection by radar, laser, infrared, and optical systems.

But despite MISTY'S intended stealthiness, when the shuttle placed it into orbit, four civilian space observers ... were able to determine that the satellite was in ... an orbit that did not match any other U.S. military spacecraft. In addition, the civilian observers were able to monitor a series of maneuvers performed by the satellite--including the "explosion" that may have been a tactic to deceive those monitoring the satellite....

The satellite did finally disappear around November 1990. In 2000, one space observer, examining orbital data from the North American Defense Command, came to the conclusion that in May 1995, the satellite was in a 451-by-461-mile orbit. Where the satellite is today is unclear, as is how much additional intelligence MISTY has yielded.

Note: The program was so secret that there was a special compartment, designated ZIRCONIC, established within the already highly secret BYEMAN Control System to designate information relating to stealth satellites. Within ZIRCONIC, yet another term, NEBULA, designated stealth satellite technology.

I dont know what the capabilites of this new satalite is, or just how importand the stealth feacher is, but from what I have read it does sound pretty wastefull, and probably less costly with equel abilites if they had just kept the SR-71.