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CIA

A Conspiracy
Behind Every Bush

The CIA has begun sharing its aerial intelligence with the nation’s top scientists –including spy satellite images and other classified data – to assess climate change.

Given that this effort was recently rebooted by CIA Director Leon Panetta this is pretty interesting stuff for conspiracy buffs and followers of conspiracies like me. President Bush refused to give the scientists access, but the new administration fell in step behind the Clinton team that allowed MEDEA scientists, with the appropriate security clearances to do scholarly research with the imagery.  

The scientists said in a recent New York Times article, that they are trying to distinguish summer ice melts from climate trends and gather intelligence about places like Antarctica.  I suppose having photos taken from sophisticated spy satellites with 30 times the resolution available from NASA or commercial satellites comes in handy for that. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/earth/05satellite.html

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that releasing secret spy photos to prove climate change exists is solely an effort championed by Democrats. It was Robert Gates, now Secretary of Defense, who as CIA Director in the early 1990’s under President George Herbert Walker Bush that allowed scientists with clearances to view spy-satellite photos for their research. This was done at the request of now climate change guru, then Senator Al Gore who wrote a letter to Gates on behalf of the interested scientists and the MEDEA program was born.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4326977.html

Lately I have been wondering whether climate change science is pure or whether it has been indelibly tainted by politics.  The Federal Government led by President Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders are champions of the issue. According to reports from CBS News, at least 20 of them, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and 18 of their Democratic colleagues all trekked to Copenhagen at the expense of taxpayers to attend the recent Climate Change Conference with the President.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/11/cbsnews_investigates/main6084364.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

The CBS investigation found that the congressional delegation was so large that it needed three military jets, two 737’s and a Gulfstream Five – up to 64 passengers – traveling in luxurious comfort. The cost of the military jets alone was $168,000 just in flight time. That’s quite a carbon footprint.

This Congressional zealotry on behalf of climate change does not necessarily denigrate the science or the CIA’s role in providing the imagery, but it does introduce a political overtone into the research. Both the EPA and Congress have been clear about their intention to impose strict environmental standards on industry to fight the problem.  

With these stated political outcomes can we trust that there will be no corruption of scientific standards?

Just look at the growing Swine Flu controversy. A top World Health Organization official has recently been accused of issuing dire warnings about the threat posed by the H1N1 virus because of pressure from the pharmaceutical industry. Leaving the world to wonder whether we still have a looming pandemic, or just a surplus of vaccine bought by governments world-wide that now must be justified?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011401784.html?hpid=sec-health

Made-made global warming is a controversy that merits careful scientific scrutiny. If the CIA photos offer some proof of the authenticity of developments in earth science all the better. But for now The President and the majority party in Congress seem willing to spend billions to fix a problem that may not in the end threaten to disrupt life on earth.  They do this to justify a theory that is rapidly becoming a political dog-fight rather than a scientific conundrum.

 

“The CIA has shared images with members of the scientific community for years.  The purpose of this collaboration has remained the same—to provide information from national security systems to expand and enhance the scientific community’s knowledge of climate change.  Nearly 2000 images—taken over the course of a decade—have been released to the public and can be viewed on http://gfl.usgs.gov.  Those images—information that would have been collected in any event—focus on areas such as deserts, forests, coastlines, permafrost regions, ocean currents, arctic sea ice, and glaciers.  The CIA is looking closely at the potential national security impact of climate change, leaving the science of climate change to the scientific professionals.”

CIA Spokesperson Paula Weiss

 CIA Opens Center on Climate Change and National Security
September 25, 2009


The Central Intelligence Agency is launching The Center on Climate Change and National Security as the focal point for its work on the subject. The Center is a small unit led by senior specialists from the Directorate of Intelligence and the Directorate of Science and Technology.
Its charter is not the science of climate change, but the national security impact of phenomena such as desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts, and heightened competition for natural resources. The Center will provide support to American policymakers as they negotiate, implement, and verify international agreements on environmental issues. That is something the CIA has done for years. “Decision makers need information and analysis on the effects climate change can have on security. The CIA is well positioned to deliver that intelligence,” said Director Leon Panetta.
The Center will assume responsibility for coordinating with Intelligence Community partners on the review and declassification of imagery and other data that could be of use to scientists in their own climate-related research. This effort draws on imagery and other information that is collected in any event, assisting the US scientific community without a large commitment of resources.
The new Center does more than bring together in a single place expertise on an important national security topic—the effect environmental factors can have on political, economic, and social stability overseas. It will also be aggressive in outreach to academics and think tanks working the issue. The goal is a powerful asset recognized throughout our government, and beyond, for its knowledge and insight.

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