The Trump administration has directed two intelligence agencies to train their satellite surveillance capabilities on the U.S.-Mexico border region as part of a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration and drug cartels.
This from lbcgroup.tv.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which are part of the Department of Defense, oversee spy satellites and analyze imagery for the Pentagon and other intelligence organizations.
Their engagement, coupled with troop deployments, denotes increasing militarization of the southern border, where President Trump has declared a national emergency.
From Reuters:
[T]he NGA said it had created a task force to coordinate its support to the U.S. border mission, while the NRO said it was partnering with the intelligence community and Pentagon to secure U.S. borders.
The government has deployed artificial intelligence and drone surveillance at the border for years, however, the latest initiative seeks to expand the use of military capabilities generally built for conflict overseas.
Two sources familiar with the initiative said:
The government could use AI to identify objects or persons of interest by sifting through satellite images and other data feeds, much like the Defense Department can do on the battlefield.
Laws generally restrict U.S. spy agencies from surveilling citizens and other legal residents, however, they allow immigration authorities to conduct physical searches “within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States.” Regulations have defined this as 100 air miles from the border—an area including cities such as San Diego and El Paso.
Paul Rosenzweig, a lawyer who primarily practices in national security and privacy law, said:
If they follow the law, these agencies should only collect on the other side of the border in foreign territory.
But how they implement that, and if they do, are legitimate oversight questions.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the government’s lead unit for integrating spy efforts, told Reuters that all intelligence activities are “legal and authorized” and conducted “in a manner that protects the civil liberties and privacy of U.S. persons.”
The NGA and NRO declined to detail what they are collecting and whether such surveillance could include U.S. territory, citing the need to protect operational details. The NGA works on a wide array of efforts including mapping features of the Earth and informing commanders of the exact location of U.S. forces and adversaries.
One of the sources said:
The Trump administration has elevated border security in its ranking of national intelligence priorities, allowing the government to direct more resources to it.
In a separate annual threat assessment released Tuesday, the U.S. intelligence community ranked transnational criminals such as drug-trafficking organizations among top national security threats—listed above those posed by North Korea, Iran and other foreign adversaries.
In addition, the National Security Council, an interagency group that advises the president on a range of defense and foreign policy matters, has received daily briefings on immigration detentions numbers, including the arrest of unaccompanied children, according to internal government documents reviewed by Reuters.
The two sources aware of the initiative said:
Multiple defense contractors—new and legacy ones alike—are in talks with various government agencies to aid the border-security work, building on existing deals they have.
