WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Democrats are calling for a moratorium on funding a new homeland security office that would use U.S. military satellites for domestic intelligence-gathering.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote Wednesday to the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee to ask them to hold up funding for the National Applications Office -- the banal-sounding unit at the Department of Homeland Security that will be able to focus the powerful eyes of the Pentagon’s most advanced satellite technology on the U.S. homeland.
“While we believe the NAO may hold significant promise in helping to secure the homeland,” wrote Thompson, “we are gravely concerned by the department’s lack of progress in creating the appropriate legal and operational safeguards necessary for ensuring that military spy satellites do not become the “Big Brother in the sky” that some … have described.”
Homeland Security officials have testified to Thompson’s committee about the potential uses of satellite imagery in border enforcement and disaster recovery activities, among others. They say concerns about privacy are overblown, and plan to stand up the new office on Oct. 1.
Appropriators have acted in the past to block or condition funds for Homeland Security programs because of privacy concerns.
