In the case of the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, which constitute the majority of those newly censored, the satellites broadcast their positions as a necessary part of their function. Almost any readily available $125 GPS receiver has a data port that enables this information to be transferred to a laptop computer. To deny such information to an enemy, the United States would have to redesign the system -- and, not incidentally, cause billions of dollars of loss to the civilian industries that have come to depend on GPS.
As for the remaining few satellites affected by the decision -- primarily meteorological satellites in low orbit and communication satellites in high orbit -- all are easily observed with $150 binoculars or, at the high end, $1,000 amateur telescopes. Those observations can be used to predict the positions of the satellites for weeks and months into the future, as has been proved over the past decade by Internet postings of the positions of top-secret U.S. spy satellites. (Contrary to the statement by the Space Command spokesman, the orbits of classified satellites have not been distributed since 1983.)
So it's hard to imagine how the present censorship of orbital elements is expected to make a difference, unless the Serbs and others can't obtain mail-order binoculars, telescopes and GPS receivers.
ALLEN THOMSON
Harlingen, Tex.