From The Wall Street Journal:U.S. intelligence agencies are capitalizing on North Korea's weekend rocket launch to advance proposals to deploy two new spy satellite systems estimated to cost a total of about $10 billion, according to government and industry officials.
Arguing that the U.S. faces a future gap in advanced, high-resolution imaging capabilities, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week asked the White House to approve plans to build a pair of large, cutting-edge spy satellites along with two smaller, less-expensive models commercially available today, these officials said. The aim is to get the simpler satellites into orbit first to maintain U.S. space surveillance efforts, and then develop and launch the more-capable follow-on constellation.
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My Comment: If one was a proponent for such an intelligence platform .... the timing of the North Korean missile test is a god-send to promote your program.