Surveillance images taken by spy planes and satellites have been
used to sway public opinion ever since President John F. Kennedy
declassified U-2 images of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba four
decades ago. Since then, the release of such
photographs—sometimes officially sanctioned, sometimes
not—has played a crucial role in geopolitics, never more
intensely than in recent years. In this interactive satellite map of
the world, examine a series of influential images released between
1962 and 2005.
Tim Brown is a senior fellow at GlobalSecurity.org, a nonprofit
think tank that supports the use of space technology to enhance
international peace and security. The author stresses that
successful identification of objects and activities in images like
the ones appearing in this feature requires the trained eye of an
expert (see, for example,
Master of the Surveillance Image) and is often clinched with supplementary information, such as
that collected by spies on the ground. Note: This feature has been
updated from a version called "Spy Photos That Made History" that
appeared on this page until December 2007. This new version appears
also on NOVA's Astrospies Web
site.
|
|