Huge Commercial Satellite Imagery Contracts Awarded
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has awarded two large contracts for commercial satellite imagery to meet U.S. intelligence community needs. DigitalGlobe received a contract worth $3.5 billion and GeoEye received another worth $3.8 billion over ten years, according to an August 6 news release (pdf) from NGA. The contracts “will help meet the increasing geospatial intelligence needs of the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense,” NGA said.
“This is such good news for the commercial satellite imagery industry,” said Mark Brender of GeoEye. “Our government is really moving to ‘outsource overhead’,” he said.
To fully harness the benefits of AI, the public must have confidence that these systems are deployed responsibly and enhance their lives and livelihoods.
The first Trump Administration’s E.O. 13859 commitment laid the foundation for increasing government accountability in AI use; this should continue
The Federation of American Scientists supports H.R. 471, the re-introduction of the Fix Our Forests Act.
With so much at stake, we cannot afford to cede science and technological leadership or its underpinnings: foundational federal R&D investments, growing STEM talent pipelines, and the best scientific and technical expertise to support policymakers.