Geospatial Intelligence Could Offer Blueprint For Protecting National Security Through Technological Leadership (From C4ISRNET)

Geospatial intelligence–mainly imagery generated from satellites–is uniquely useful to a wide range of users. However, after years of leading the world in GEOINT technology, the United States has begun to fall behind. The good news is that this problem can be fixed by making policy changes rather than spending taxpayer funds. The bad news is that if new policies reflecting market realities aren’t implemented soon, U.S. companies could find themselves squeezed out of the global commercial market for geospatial information. That would leave the intelligence community as the sole U.S. repository for GEOINT expertise at a time when commercial demand around the world is exploding. I have written a commentary for C4ISRNet here.