Napolitano axes satellite spying program

WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is moving to end a controversial spy satellite program, sources say.

Quoting an unnamed senior Homeland Security official, Tuesday's Los Angeles Times reported Napolitano has decided to nix a National Applications Office program that was to use U.S. spy satellites to collect domestic intelligence for counter-terrorism, law enforcement and security efforts.

The program, initiated by the Bush administration in 2007, was delayed after it had raised the concerns of civil liberties advocates as well as several U.S. lawmakers who contended it would be an invasion of the privacy rights of Americans.

The source said Napolitano decided to ax the program after conferring with law enforcement officials and discovering they had more urgent priorities than using spy satellites to collect data and eavesdrop on people in the United States.

The Homeland Security source and Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, told the Times they all had serious concerns about the program's potential for intrusiveness.