The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "satellite imagery" ...
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Vanishing Wetlands
The authors used satellite imagery to determine how many acres of Florida's wetlands had disappeared since 1990, when President George H.W. Bush promised to ensure no net loss of wetlands. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the wetlands, but the organization's record-keeping is so incomplete that they have no accurate record of how many acres of wetlands were saved and how many were destroyed. The reporters found that government records regarding the creation of new wetlands were full of "creative accounting and questionable science."
Tags: environment; wetlands; preservation; ecosystem; wildlife; Army Corps of Engineers; FOIA; data analysis; satellite imagery; mapping
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God's Eyes for Sale
Technology Review reports high-resolution satellite images are about the flood the marketplace. They could be good for business, but what will they do for terrorists? The classified "spook's" monopoly over high-quality satellite imagery is over. In the next few months and years a gaggle of companies around the world plan to launch high-resolution imagery satellites, some capable of achieving resolutions fine enough to detect objects less than a meter across - which used to be state of the art for the intelligence community. According to projections by some industry analysts, sales of this new commodity, along with value-added services, could reach half a billion dollars within a few years. There are plenty of beneficial uses for this information. But what about the dark side, where people like Saddam Hussein might have access to the same information?
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Exposing the Black Budget
Wired magazine reports that "The Cold War is over. So why, Paul McGinnis wanted to know, are major CIA, NSA, and Department of Defense programs still being kept secret from Congress and US taxpayers?... The black budget is the government's illusory and tangled accounting of what it spends on intelligence gathering, covert operations, and - less noticeably - secret military research and weapons programs. It admits to no easy calculation, but by estimates of those who watch it, the black budget may hit US$30 billion a year - a figure larger than current federal expenditures for education."