WASHINGTON Ñ A French think tank has called on the Bush administration to revise its pledge not to allow commercial operators to sell high resolution satellite imagery of Israel.

A report by the CFE, the Centre Francais Sur Les Etats Unis, argues that Washington's promise to restrict imagery of Israel is no longer in harmony with advances in satellite technology and a policy to promote the industry.

"The government and Congress should undoubtedly review the system of restricting sales of images from Israeli territory soon," the report, Satellite Imagery Control: An American Dilemma, said. "They will need to choose between harmonizing U.S. law with the resolutions available in the rest of the world, and the desire not to affect IsraelÕs security adversely."

The report reviews U.S. commitments to Israel regarding restrictions on satellite imagery. In 1997, federal law imposed a ban on U.S. companies from gathering or selling images of Israeli territory if they are more detailed or precise than the space imagery generally available from foreign commercial sources.

The following year, Washington determined that the images of Israel available at that time from non-American sources had a maximum resolution of two meters. As a result, the Commerce Department ordered U.S. companies not to sell images of Israel with a resolution under two meters.

By June 2000, the report said, the Russian company Sovinformsputnik began offering images with a resolution of one meter. Earlier this year, the Commerce Department awarded a license for imagery with a resolution of 50 centimeters.

"It is likely that foreign companies will follow up on this new development if they can," the report said. "The United States itself thus seems to be initiating the evolution of imagery supply towards increasingly fine resolutions. This causes foreign companies to adapt their products and directly threatens the balance projected by the Kyl-Bingaman amendment [which restricted imagery of Israel]."

The report does not predict any imminent change in U.S. satellite imagery policy toward Israel. Satellite operators, the report said, will continue to be supported by contracts with U.S. federal agencies without seeking to extend their market reach.

Print this Article

Email this article

Free Headline Alerts