“It will be a leap in overhead reconnaissance commensurate to anything we’ve done in the last 50 years or so, but they’ll take a decade-plus to realize.”

“Those will be really, really big things when they’re realized,” he added.

When asked about areas where he saw military intelligence technology moving forward, Cardillo said, “In the global coverage area, for the first time, we’re trying to create really persistent surveillance from space, rather than having episodic surveillance – actually be able to stare at areas for real long periods of time and improve the resiliency and the integration of our architecture.” Importantly, these would be different from geo-stationary orbiting satellites for communication, which have limited ISR capabilities. That’s why the private players are leading the innovation.Ĭontrast Cardillo’s enthusiasm for open source satellite intelligence with the vision that under secretary of defense for intelligence Michael Vickers outlined during the Defense One Summit. A glimpse of the numbers reveals why the market for satellite imagery, Have “huge potential” to fill intelligence needs. In a conversation with reporters Cardillo said that scads of cheap satellites from nimble space start ups like Want to see incredibly detailed (25 centimeter resolution) pictures of the Earth from space? Thanks to decision from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration DigitalGlobe has become more and more public facing in recent years. NGA is the biggest customer of high-resolution satellite imaging company DigitalGlobe, but they are hardly the company’s only client. Military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, ISR, satellites-still up there-play a more subordinate role to commercial image providers. “I would like to amaze people with how relevant and responsive can be in the open….What I would like to surprise people about… is how NGA can come out and be more relevant with public diplomacy.” Cardillo, at an Intelligence and National Security Alliance dinner, laid out his plans for the future of satellite intelligence collection. But that’s not the image Cardillo wants to project, either of NGA or of himself.

Spy agent pictures