ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the larger contexts within which United Nations organizational issues regarding the use of commercial satellite imagery (CSI) must arise. It focuses on some existing information about intelligence and C4I problems and possibilities in UN and other operations to explore briefly few scenarios relevant to the organization of the UN for the use of CSI. The issues will become still more complex if UN peacekeepers are expected to integrate their activities with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) active in a 'complex operation' – that are, an operation in which both military and humanitarian aspects are significant. The fundamental political limitation on the UN is the willingness of states to tolerate the acquisition and use of significant CSI capability by the organization. The development of a UN CSI capability would enhance rather than undercut, existing UN capabilities. The use of 'open source' imagery could reduce the problems of protecting sources which can hinder the sharing of National Technical Means (NTM)-based intelligence.
