Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs

Fact Sheet 2008-3054
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Abstract

Declassified photographs from U.S. intelligence satellites provide an important worldwide addition to the public record of the Earth’s land surface. This imagery was released to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in accordance with Executive Order 12951 on February 23, 1995. The NARA has the original declassified film and a viewing copy. The USGS has another copy of the film to complement the Landsat archive.

The declassified collection involves more than 990,000 photographs taken from 1959 through 1980 and was released on two separate occasions: February 1995 (Declass 1) and September 2002 (Declass 2). The USGS copy is maintained by the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Both the NARA and EROS provide public access to this unique collection that extends the record of land-surface change back another decade from the advent of the Landsat program that began satellite operations in 1972.

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 2008-3054
DOI 10.3133/fs20083054
Year Published 2008
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description 2 p.
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