By Steve Hynd
Can liberals, lefties, progressives and Democrats all be honest and admit we'd have howled in outrrage about overly zealous police-state secrecy if this had been done during the Bush years? (H/t Kat):
For 15 years, scientists have benefited from data gleaned by U.S. classified satellites of natural fireball events in Earth's atmosphere � but no longer.
A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly states that observations by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and fireballs are classified secret and are not to be released, SPACE.com has learned.
The satellites' main objectives include detecting nuclear bomb tests, and their characterizations of asteroids and lesser meteoroids as they crash through the atmosphere has been a byproduct data bonanza for scientists.
The upshot: Space rocks that explode in the atmosphere are now classified.
"It's baffling to us why this would suddenly change," said one scientist familiar with the work. "It's unfortunate because there was this great synergy...a very good cooperative arrangement. Systems were put into dual-use mode where a lot of science was getting done that couldn't be done any other way. It's a regrettable change in policy."
Scientists say not only will research into the threat from space be hampered, but public understanding of sometimes dramatic sky explosions will be diminished, perhaps leading to hype and fear of the unknown.
Can we be that honest, to admit that Obama's administration is pushing kneejerk secrecy - the cornerstone of the Imperial Presidency - to undreamt of heights? You'd think so.
It's perhaps too paranoid to point out that this is exactly what you would expect if the military was preparing to test a "Brilliant Pebbles" offensive capability, since they'd look the same as bolides.
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