I’m still exhausted. So this is going to be as brief as I can make it. I apologize in advance for my exceedingly exhaustion driven short temper.
Odesa once again came under Russian attack overnight. Fortunately it was just drones and not cruise missiles.
Overnight, our air defenders shot down 14 of 16 russia’s Shahed drones launched to strike the Odesa region.
📹: Commander of Ukraine's Air Force pic.twitter.com/IImIlf1zm8
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 17, 2024
The Biden administration has decided to give known security risk, drug addict, neo-NAZI, racist eugencist, insider threat, and overall anti-American oligarch Elon Musk a contract to do geo-spatial intelligence.
Reuters has the details:
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) – SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.
The network is being built by SpaceX’s Starshield business unit under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, the sources said.
The plans show the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in U.S. intelligence and military projects and illustrate a deeper Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.
If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.
The contract signals growing trust by the intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy, opens new tab over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.
The Wall Street Journal reported, opens new tab in February the existence of a $1.8 billion classified Starshield contract with an unknown intelligence agency without detailing the purposes of the program.
Reuters reporting discloses for the first time that the SpaceX contract is for a powerful new spy system with hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits, and that the spy agency that Musk’s company is working with is the NRO.
Reuters was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online and could not establish what other companies are part of the program with their own contracts.
SpaceX, the world’s largest satellite operator, did not respond to several requests for comment about the contract, its role in it and details on satellite launches. The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the NRO and SpaceX.
In a statement the NRO acknowledged its mission to develop a sophisticated satellite system and its partnerships with other government agencies, companies, research institutions and nations, but declined to comment on Reuters’ findings about the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in the effort.
“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” a spokesperson said.
The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with U.S. intelligence and military officials, the sources said. In principle, that would enable the U.S. government to quickly capture continuous imagery of activities on the ground nearly anywhere on the globe, aiding intelligence and military operations, they added.
Roughly a dozen prototypes have been launched since 2020, among other satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, three of the sources said.
Much more at the link!
Why is the Biden administration doing something this stupid? Here’s why:
“Even though Musk is not technically a diplomat or statesman, I felt it was important to treat him as such, given the influence he had on this issue,” Kahl told me.
Biden’s senior national security appointments: the gifts that keep on giving to dictators, tyrants, authoritarians, oligarchs, and kleptocrats. During the Obama administration these idiots allowed Theil a contract for Palantir that gave Palantir control of all the intelligence that was loaded into the system. So Theil and his companies own all of that, not the US government. The learning curve is flat.
More analysis on this after the jump.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.