Open Skies Treaty-Post-Mission Analysis

The treaty on Open Skies has not yet entered into force, but several countries have actually flown Open Skies missions over the United States during the last two years. They are permitted to keep the imagery they have collected. Since no airspace is restricted for Open Skies flights, any sensitive activities can be risk to imagery. This paper discusses the post mission analysis process developed under the Defense Treaty Inspection Readiness Program (DTIRP) to inform the defense community about security issues related to Open Skies overflights. The analysis identifies the flight path, and highlights what areas were actually imaged, along with the technology that was used for imaging. In addition, sample frames are analyzed to identify what a photo-interpreter might be able to deduce from the collected imagery. This analysis will enable facility security personnel to have a better understanding of the Open Skies process and to better understand the vulnerabilities that their facility might have to the process.