C.I.A. Revives Data-Sharing Program With Environmental Scientists

[bananas]

Source: NY Times

The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.

The collaboration restarts an effort the Bush administration shut down and has the strong backing of the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In the last year, as part of the effort, the collaborators have scrutinized images of Arctic sea ice from reconnaissance satellites in an effort to distinguish things like summer melts from climate trends, and they have had images of the ice pack declassified to speed the scientific analysis.
...
Officials said the effort to restart the program originated on Capitol Hill in 2008 after former Vice President Al Gore argued for its importance with Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who was then a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee; she became its chairwoman in early 2009.
...
The program resurrects a scientific group that from 1992 to 2001 advised the federal government on environmental surveillance. Known as Medea, for Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis, the group sought to discover if intelligence archives and assets could shed light on issues of environmental stewardship.
...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/earth/05satellite.html

[Demeter]

1. Not the Most Calming of Acronyms

Medea killed her children to spite their father, Jason, seeker of the Golden fleece, which he could not have obtained without her aid, when he deserted her and the children for a princess.

[bananas]

5. JASON is another intelligence-science group

The Pentagon tried to force some political appointees onto them in 2002:

"Defense Department Agency Severs Its Ties to an Elite Panel of Scientists"
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/us/defense-department-agency-severs-its-ties-to-an-elite-panel-of-scientists.html?pagewanted=1

"Elite Panel of Academics Wins Fight to Continue Advising Military"
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/020607-jason.htm

[Demeter]

6. Yeah, But That's Probably a Tip to Jason Bourne

[boppers]

2. Bush shut down an intelligence operation that would have lead to intelligent decisions...

I'm wondering how many more of these there are.

[SpiralHawk]

3. How telling. The Republicons really DO hate facts, are anti-science

Just pathetic how the republicons did -- and do -- everything in their power to hide the truth.

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. It's fundies who hate science.

Like W, for instance.

Since the gop sold out to the fundies, the rest of the gop has kept quiet - like the Nazis who didn't hate Jews during the Third Reich.

[peacetalksforall]

4. This appears to me to be about the next great battle for earth resources with the

lead taken on behalf of barons using the people's assets - agencies we pay for. Since it is for the barons, as is the usual (ex. Iraq Wars), the people won't benefit.