From AFIO's The Intelligencer Association of Former Intelligence Officers Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies 6723 Whittier Avenue, Suite 200 Volume 18 • Number 2 • $15 single copy price Winter/Spring 2011 McLean, Virginia 22101 © 2011 AFIO - Association of Former Intelligence Officers, All Rights Reserved. Web: www.afio.com, E-mail: [email protected] record the positions of enemy combatants. Pioneering photographer Matthew Brady created an important historical record of the American Civil War with his photographs. Manned balloons were used during the Civil War to observe enemy positions and activities, and on at least one occasion, photographs obtained from a balloon vantage point were used to support Guide to military operations. The need for relatively long expo- sure times to take 1860s vintage photographs caused Imagery Intelligence blurring because of balloon motion and limited the utility of these early intelligence products. Experi- Robert E. Dupré ments continued through the late 1880s in places like Germany with photographs taken from balloons, kites Imagery intelligence (or IMINT) is a valued and and early rockets, but without much success. often essential element of the entire intelligence pic- The advance of camera and film technology ture. A perusal of the U.S. Intelligence Community (smaller cameras, shorter exposure times, more effi- website at http://www.intelligence.gov provides an insight cient lenses), when tied to the invention of the aircraft, into its importance and displays where imagery fits created the opportunity for true imagery support for into the overall intelligence picture. Imagery can take intelligence and military operations. A brief history many forms with the most well-known being conven- of the first aerial observation activity of World War tional film (e.g., 35 mm camera), electro-optical (e.g., I may be found in the Aviation History area of www. digital camera) and video (e.g., camcorder). More pilotfriend.com. Additional information may be found esoteric imagery forms are also of intelligence use and in Shooting the Front which is listed in the bibliography. examples of such are infrared photography and radar imagery. Regardless of type, images are interpreted (analyzed) by trained imagery experts to yield useful IMINT IN WORLD WARS ONE intelligence data. AND TWO In the United States, analysis of intelligence imagery is conducted at centers such as the National The primary use of aerial photography in WWI Geospatial Intelligence Agency, in Bethesda, Maryland was to support front line tactical operations. As the (https://www1.nga.mil), or at the National Air and Space sophistication of both aircraft and photography Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base increased it became possible to expand the usefulness in Dayton, Ohio (http://www.afisr.af.mil/units/nasic/index. of aerial photography. Longer range aircraft, aircraft asp). These facilities are key elements in photographic dedicated to photographic missions, more capable analysis supporting U.S. government operations. cameras, and trained photo interpreters combined to allow aerial photography to broaden in application. It became possible to collect information that served BRIEF HISTORY OF IMINT longer-range analyses of an adversary’s future plan. Information about factories, shipyards, harbors, air- The use of imagery for intelligence applications fields, etc. could be used for both near-term targeting has a long and rich history. Prior to the invention and long-term strategic planning. of photography, scouts would deliver tales of their In WWII, even low technology efforts yielded observations to military commanders. They would useful intelligence imagery data when photographs, perhaps draw pictures and maps in the dirt to illustrate known as Aunt Minnies, taken by commercial pho- that which they had observed. They would use word tographers, journalists, or tourists, showed areas of pictures to convey information but the military com- interest or intelligence targets. These were mostly mander would always have to create a mind picture ground-level photos made available to an intelligence of the scout’s descriptions. This all began to change agency of a location of particular interest. They were with the advent of photography in the 1830s. This new called Aunt Minnies because someone’s aunt (or invention was used to document battles and occasion- grandmother, etc.) was often in the photos along with ally to view an enemy’s positions from high ground to the location of interest. During WWII, the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA) checked Winter/Spring 2011 Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Page 61 thousands of antique shops for Aunt Minnie postcards in the Sky, Corona: America’s First Satellite Program, and in addition to checking magazine publisher’s files to The Wizards of Langley. discover photos of interest areas. The use of spacecraft to obtain imagery from The Second World War also saw vast techno- denied areas eliminated the danger of attack on logical advances in the use of photography to support airborne systems but created a much more complex, military applications and featured the conversion of costly, and less flexible collection system. Space- various combat aircraft, such as the B-17 or British craft are restricted to very predictable and not easily Mosquito, for use as aerial photographic recon- changed orbits. One can initially optimize an orbit to naissance platforms. The book, Evidence in Camera, maximize coverage (daytime passage over an area of describes the WWII use of aerial reconnaissance from interest, for example), but changing the spacecraft’s the British perspective. Many of the histories of WWII orbit to accommodate a different threat is extremely devote sections to the aerial collection of photography difficult, or in some cases impossible, because of the and the military successes resulting from the data. laws of physics. An aircraft can maneuver or delay its The Korean War brought the development of spe- departure in response to bad weather, but a spacecraft cialized aircraft, which were specifically designed for is restricted to its pre-determined orbital path. Also, the collection of photography. An example would be many a photograph taken from space has shown noth- the RF-80, a variant of the F-80 Shooting Star Fighter/ ing but cloud cover or has had a cloud obscuring the Bomber. Previously, fighter or bomber aircraft had target of interest. Early space photographs also suf- only been modified to serve a photo collection role fered from poor quality compared to aircraft coverage, rather than being initially designed for that purpose. but advancing technology has skillfully addressed and resolved that issue. Details about the types of satellites used and their operations may be found in the book THE COLD WAR YEARS Deep Black. During the Cold War, the buildup of Soviet strate- gic capability drove U.S. intelligence collection needs THE MODERN ERA OF UAVS AND SAR and resulted in the development of strategic platforms such as the U-2 and the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. By the 1990s, new systems had been developed These high altitude, manned collection platforms were that improved photographic intelligence. Electro- specifically designed to provide access to denied terri- optic sensors (think digital cameras) entered into tory primarily for photographic collection. Developed common use. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in secrecy, the U-2 was used to obtain information was developed and could send video in real time back about the emerging Soviet strategic systems. President to battlefield commanders, who could then observe Eisenhower proposed in 1955 an “Open Skies” policy an engagement in progress. By the time of the second for the world where arms agreements could be verified Gulf War, the Predator UAV was outfitted with ordi- by mutual inspection. When this policy was rejected by nance (Hellfire missiles) and was capable of not only the Soviet Union, U-2 over-flights of the Soviet Union observing action but of attacking targets of oppor- were initiated beginning in 1956. The loss of one of tunity. The development of synthetic aperture radar these aircraft over the Soviet Union in 1960 created an (SAR) imagery now allows surveillance of targets of international incident. That story is told by the pilot, interest at night and through clouds. SAR images can Francis Gary Powers, in his book Operation Overflight. reveal to imagery interpreters intelligence not avail- The U-2 aircraft also played a prominent role in able in conventional images. the Cuban Missile Crisis. The more capable SR-71, The 1990s also witnessed the growth of inter- originally developed as the A-12 under a CIA program national and commercial satellite imaging. While (see “Archangel: CIA’s Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Air- the former Soviet Union had maintained a robust craft” in the bibliography) reached operational capa- Cosmos imagery program, the first civil imagery sat- bility in the 1960s and was used during the Viet Nam ellite, Landsat, was launched in 1972, and the French War and in other areas of the world to collect valuable launched their SPOT remote sensing satellite in 1986. imagery until its retirement in the 1990s. The first of the privately funded earth imaging satel- The development of space-borne photographic lites was launched in 1999. Ikonos was managed by collection systems is documented in texts such as Eye Space Imaging, Inc., a spin-off of Lockheed, a com- Page 62 Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Winter/Spring 2011 pany well-versed in imagery thinker, Sun Tzu, wrote a treatise on war in which he systems. By 2003, competi- said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself you tor imagery satellite systems need not fear a hundred battles. If you know yourself had been orbited (QuickBird and not the enemy, for every victory you will suffer a and OrbView), one (EROS-A1) defeat. If you know neither yourself nor the enemy, you by an Israeli are a fool and will meet defeat in every battle.” Imagery c o m p a n y .