Space: July 24, 2002

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The Air Force is trying to find a way to "temporarily" deny any enemy the use of spy satellites (presumably including the commercial ones). Just how this would or could be done is not clear, but it might include feeding the satellites computer viruses or blinding their cameras with less-than-destructive lasers. The point is to develop such a capability as a tactic (i.e., to temporarily blind some enemy satellites at times most advantageous for the US, and even to use temporary blinding as a means of convincing the enemy that something is happening when in fact nothing is happening).--Stephen V Cole