The New York Times reports today about increased scrutiny of the collaboration between the Central Intelligence Agency and top scientists to understand environmental change. The recent airline security breaches and the death of CIA operatives at the hands of a double agent in Afghanistan have helped foster criticism as there are feelings that the intelligence community is too thinly spread.

Back in July the National Research Council released a report that urged greater cooperation and the release of classified imagery for climate change study, and immediately the U.S. Geological Survey created a website to provide access to Arctic sea ice images. The collaboration is ongoing, with satellites tasked for environmental imagery collection when they would otherwise be idle.

The criticism seems unfounded based on:

  • The very low cost
  • The images are already captured and are just distributed through this program
  • Any tasking of satellites over the Arctic provides practice for the operators under low stress conditions
  • The resolution of the imagery is reduced, so no secrets about satellite capabilities are revealed

This program highlights the best of government cooperation with academia, making available intelligence assets in a controlled environment for the betterment of society.

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