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CNN Live At Daybreak
Look Inside National Imagery and Mapping Agency
Aired December 10, 2002 - 05:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now part two of a CNN exclusive look at a secret spy agency. Before now, few people had heard of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. It's called NIMA.
And as our national security correspondent David Ensor reports, it plays a crucial role.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the orders came to go into Afghanistan, few in the military knew much about the place. The first thing Air Force and Navy pilots needed were maps, coordinates, targets. So did special operations troops on the ground.
BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL LEE, NIMA MILITARY EXECUTIVE: Whether you're riding horseback as a special ops person or whether you're flying a Stealth bomber, you use many of our same products. So everybody wants to know where they are, where their families are, where the enemy is, where the non-combatants might be.
ENSOR: Maps are basic to warfare. NIMA quickly printed thousands more on special durable material.
JOANNE ISHAM, NIMA DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Not only does it tell you where you are, but it also provides some helpful hints in terms of the environment for what you might be able to eat. It can be used to carry water. It's that strong. It can also be used as a blanket.
ENSOR: Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina is one of the nation's main bases for F-16s. As pilots prepared for Afghan duty, NIMA scrambled together computer software for them to practice, software that allows them to punch in coordinates on a map of Afghanistan then convert that to a picture of the terrain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could actually do a, basically a practice run, you know, with the joy stick, and, you know, just try to find...
ENSOR (on camera): Where you'd best be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, and then what your target and stuff would look like.
ENSOR (voice-over): Getting out the maps and software for Afghanistan took a lot of all nighters at NIMA.
LT. GEN. JAMES CLAPPER (RET.), NIMA DIRECTOR: It was not exactly on the, our top 10 hit parade of places that we had placed a lot of emphasis or focus.
ENSOR: To make things happen fast, the normally secretive spy agency did something surprising -- it hired private companies to take up the slack. Surrounded by prairie dog holes in the foothills outside Denver is the headquarters of Space Imaging, a private satellite photo company. Space Imaging went into overdrive after 9/11, shooting thousands of satellite pictures of Afghanistan for the exclusive use of the U.S. government. The deal had the effect of stopping the media and others from obtaining pictures of U.S. troop movements. It also saved the U.S. time and money.
JOHN COPPLE, CEO, SPACE IMAGING: NIMA buys commercial imagery not only from a cost perspective in that they don't have to go build their own satellite, they can leverage our satellite, but also it's unclassified data. It can be shared with our allies.
ENSOR: Now, NIMA is turning its sights to another target, the territory of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. NIMA's satellite photo analysts know Iraq well, its weapons of mass destruction sites and the key military installations. But the Iraqis are masters are hiding what they have.
CLAPPER: Denial and deception and concealment is a challenge for us.
ENSOR: As U.S. intelligence expands its use of unmanned surveillance drones and as smarter computers and analysts increase the speed at which target data can be generated, warfare is changing, even as another potential conflict looms.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: Today, the imagery can get in digital form to military planners fast enough that they can actually shoot at targets before they move.
ENSOR: In time of war, the existence of the new private satellite firms like Space Imaging is the mixed blessing for the U.S. For Iraq, the government may exercise its legal right, predicts Pike, to shutter control on American owned firms.
PIKE: There's no way the military is going to let these satellites monitor American troop movements on their way to Baghdad.
ENSOR (on camera): If U.S. forces do go to war with Iraq, NIMA teams will go in there with them, working to tailor the maps, software and target data to the war fighter.
David Ensor, CNN, Bethesda, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 10, 2002 - 05:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now part two of a CNN exclusive look at a secret spy agency. Before now, few people had heard of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. It's called NIMA.
And as our national security correspondent David Ensor reports, it plays a crucial role.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the orders came to go into Afghanistan, few in the military knew much about the place. The first thing Air Force and Navy pilots needed were maps, coordinates, targets. So did special operations troops on the ground.
BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL LEE, NIMA MILITARY EXECUTIVE: Whether you're riding horseback as a special ops person or whether you're flying a Stealth bomber, you use many of our same products. So everybody wants to know where they are, where their families are, where the enemy is, where the non-combatants might be.
ENSOR: Maps are basic to warfare. NIMA quickly printed thousands more on special durable material.
JOANNE ISHAM, NIMA DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Not only does it tell you where you are, but it also provides some helpful hints in terms of the environment for what you might be able to eat. It can be used to carry water. It's that strong. It can also be used as a blanket.
ENSOR: Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina is one of the nation's main bases for F-16s. As pilots prepared for Afghan duty, NIMA scrambled together computer software for them to practice, software that allows them to punch in coordinates on a map of Afghanistan then convert that to a picture of the terrain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could actually do a, basically a practice run, you know, with the joy stick, and, you know, just try to find...
ENSOR (on camera): Where you'd best be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, and then what your target and stuff would look like.
ENSOR (voice-over): Getting out the maps and software for Afghanistan took a lot of all nighters at NIMA.
LT. GEN. JAMES CLAPPER (RET.), NIMA DIRECTOR: It was not exactly on the, our top 10 hit parade of places that we had placed a lot of emphasis or focus.
ENSOR: To make things happen fast, the normally secretive spy agency did something surprising -- it hired private companies to take up the slack. Surrounded by prairie dog holes in the foothills outside Denver is the headquarters of Space Imaging, a private satellite photo company. Space Imaging went into overdrive after 9/11, shooting thousands of satellite pictures of Afghanistan for the exclusive use of the U.S. government. The deal had the effect of stopping the media and others from obtaining pictures of U.S. troop movements. It also saved the U.S. time and money.
JOHN COPPLE, CEO, SPACE IMAGING: NIMA buys commercial imagery not only from a cost perspective in that they don't have to go build their own satellite, they can leverage our satellite, but also it's unclassified data. It can be shared with our allies.
ENSOR: Now, NIMA is turning its sights to another target, the territory of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. NIMA's satellite photo analysts know Iraq well, its weapons of mass destruction sites and the key military installations. But the Iraqis are masters are hiding what they have.
CLAPPER: Denial and deception and concealment is a challenge for us.
ENSOR: As U.S. intelligence expands its use of unmanned surveillance drones and as smarter computers and analysts increase the speed at which target data can be generated, warfare is changing, even as another potential conflict looms.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: Today, the imagery can get in digital form to military planners fast enough that they can actually shoot at targets before they move.
ENSOR: In time of war, the existence of the new private satellite firms like Space Imaging is the mixed blessing for the U.S. For Iraq, the government may exercise its legal right, predicts Pike, to shutter control on American owned firms.
PIKE: There's no way the military is going to let these satellites monitor American troop movements on their way to Baghdad.
ENSOR (on camera): If U.S. forces do go to war with Iraq, NIMA teams will go in there with them, working to tailor the maps, software and target data to the war fighter.
David Ensor, CNN, Bethesda, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
