Commercial Observation Satellites:
Dual-Use Technology in an Age of Global Transparency

John Baker, Kevin O'Connell, and John Robertson

Earth-orbiting satellites and manned spacecraft have been collecting images of the Earth's surface for more than four decades. Nonetheless, a major change is occurring as high-resolution satellite images become available for the first time to a broad range of states and non-state actors. This article examines some of the policy issues that commercial observation satellites raise for U.S. policymakers, who are concerned with both the potential benefits and risks of this dual-use information technology.

Expanding Global Access. During the Cold War years, the United States and Soviet Union were the only states with access to high-resolution military reconnaissance satellites to help them keep track of worldwide developments. This situation fundamentally changed after the Cold War as the U.S. and Russian governments allowed high-resolution satellite images to become publicly available. These governments took separate steps to declassify older military reconnaissance images, such as the earliest U.S. CORONA satellite images that are now publicly available from government archives. Even more important, both governments authorized commercial enterprises to sell high-resolution satellite images. These steps fundamentally opened the door to satellite imagery data, which is now available to a wide range of users with few government restrictions…

John Baker is Technical Policy Analyst at RAND. Kevin O'Connell directs the Intelligence Policy Center at RAND. John Robertson is a Master's candidate in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.