Remote sensing technology, and the prospect of almost immediate and widespread dissemination of the imagery, creates grave vulnerabilities for U.S. national security. Increased transparency could seriously compromise U.S. military efforts. CIA Director George Tenet, explaining how adversaries are taking advantage of remote sensing technology, noted that "foreign military, intelligence, and terrorist organizations are exploiting this, along with commercially available navigation and communication services, to enhance the planning and conduct of their operations." Remote sensing technology provides an adversary with near real-time visibility of U.S. military posture "at both the strategic and theater levels," and allows an adversary to "preemptively deny forward basing by destroying air bases or sea ports, [and] use his long range precision strike weapons against pre-selected U.S. targets." Such worst-case scenarios cannot be dismissed as pure science fiction, as detailed satellite imagery of the U.S. bases in Qatar and Diego Garcia was available at http://www.globalsecurity.org prior to the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Anyone with access to the Internet could view chronological, side-by-side, one-meter resolution images of the new U.S. aircraft shelters, storage tanks, air-strips, and troop tents at the al-Udeid (Qatar) base. Images of the U.S. base at Diego Garcia, revealing the existence of climate-controlled hangers needed to support B-2 stealth bombers when they are deployed away from their home base in Missouri, were also posted. It is critical to note that while dissemination of such imagery on the Internet poses serious threats, the threat such satellite imagery poses is not limited to Internet broadcasting.

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Prober, Raphael. "Shutter Control: Confronting Tomorrow's Technology with Yesterday's Regulations." Journal of Law and Politics. Vol. 19 (Spring 2003): 203-251. [ 5 quotes ]