goldenequity
09-26-2017, 07:30 AM
'Open Skies' Squabble: US To Restrict Russian Military Flights Over American Territory
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-26/us-seeks-curb-russian-military-flights-over-american-soil
(you can read about the new 'squabble' FWIW)
BACKGROUND
The Open Skies Treaty, initially conceived during the Eisenhower Administration, ultimately ratified in 1992, before going into effect in 2002, has enabled more than 1,200 flights meant to help verify that signatories are in compliance with arms control agreements, according to the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
Of course, as we noted last month, it is unclear what if anything spy planes can glean from the flights that the Russians (and the US) couldn’t already learn from spy satellites overhead, especially since anything of value would have been hidden well in advance of the pre-telegraphed flight.
To be sure, Pentagon officials cite the value of the treaty, chiefly the fact that imagery captured on the flights is shared among treaty states and also with the public, imposing a level of transparency that is rare in the murky world of counterintelligence operations. Tellingly, in March 2014, the US used Open Skies imagery to counter Russia’s claim that it wasn’t engaged in a military buildup along the Ukrainian border.
“If we didn’t have it, what would be there?” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe, told The Wall Street Journal. “I’d rather have it. Anything that allows for transparency is worthwhile. But you got to enforce it.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-26/us-seeks-curb-russian-military-flights-over-american-soil
(you can read about the new 'squabble' FWIW)
BACKGROUND
The Open Skies Treaty, initially conceived during the Eisenhower Administration, ultimately ratified in 1992, before going into effect in 2002, has enabled more than 1,200 flights meant to help verify that signatories are in compliance with arms control agreements, according to the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
Of course, as we noted last month, it is unclear what if anything spy planes can glean from the flights that the Russians (and the US) couldn’t already learn from spy satellites overhead, especially since anything of value would have been hidden well in advance of the pre-telegraphed flight.
To be sure, Pentagon officials cite the value of the treaty, chiefly the fact that imagery captured on the flights is shared among treaty states and also with the public, imposing a level of transparency that is rare in the murky world of counterintelligence operations. Tellingly, in March 2014, the US used Open Skies imagery to counter Russia’s claim that it wasn’t engaged in a military buildup along the Ukrainian border.
“If we didn’t have it, what would be there?” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe, told The Wall Street Journal. “I’d rather have it. Anything that allows for transparency is worthwhile. But you got to enforce it.”