Intelligence in the Internet Era
Abstract
During the Napoleonic Wars, the French revolutionized land-based communications with the erection of semaphore towers bearing rotating arms to fashion coded signals that could speed by line-of-sight from tower to tower along the coast and across the country at some 200 miles an hour. The British quickly followed suit in that new era of signals intelligence. Theft of the enemy's semaphore codebooks became an important part of the business of war. During the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, "Predator" unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), flying lengthy missions at heights of some 25,000 feet, have been providing multi-hour surveillance of designated geography, installations, and activity. Tasking to the Predator, as well as electro-optical video and infra-red images collected by its cameras, move near-instantaneously to and from the theater commanders and officials in Washington. Such communications flow through a secure network of ground stations and satellites, with part of the product traveling through a classified Internet counterpart.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA525148
Entities
People
- A. D. Cliff
Organizations
- Central Intelligence Agency