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The Obama administration’s proposed budget for fiscal 2011 has reignited a major dispute over a multibillion-dollar effort to replace the nation’s aging spy satellites. Senate Intelligence ranking member Kit Bond, R-Mo., said Tuesday he was under the impression there was support in the administration for a plan to have the government buy a constellation of small, relatively cheap satellites to support intelligence and military operations. The plan was approved last year by the full committee. But there was no funding for the plan in the administration’s fiscal 2011 budget request released Monday, Bond said during a hearing to examine threats to U.S. national security. Instead, the budget seeks funding for a different plan called Imagery Way Ahead, which calls for buying large, powerful and expensive electro-optical satellites while purchasing more data from U.S. commercial satellite companies. Check out the full Government Executive article here.

Tags: GEOINT, geospatial intelligence, Imagery Way Ahead, Kit Bond, Spy Satellite Budget Dispute, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF