Wearing A Secret On Their Sleeves
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 30, 2000 ; A23
As security incidents go, the case of the National Reconnaissance
Office (NRO) shoulder patch may lack the intrigue of a Russian
bug planted in a State Department conference room or the mystery
of missing tapes loaded with nuclear warhead secrets from Los
Alamos National Laboratory. But for pure guilelessness, the NRO
patch may be in a class by itself.
Amateur satellite observers who track the orbits of classified
U.S. intelligence satellites say the embroidered patch,
distributed to NRO employees to commemorate the Aug. 17 launch
of a Titan IV, clearly revealed the rocket's secret payload--a
radar-imaging Lacrosse spy satellite.
"This is most extraordinary," said retired CIA scientist Allen
Thomson. "It appears that the NRO has given away significant
information in advance of the current Titan IV mission in, of all
things, a shoulder patch."
One need not be a spy to figure this out:
A Lacrosse radar-imaging satellite, unobstructed by clouds or
nighttime, uses radar beams to image objects on Earth. The patch
includes a slogan, "We own the night."
With the latest launch, four Lacrosse satellites are believed to
have been deployed, with Lacrosse 1 deorbited in 1997 after nine
years of service. The patch shows four satellites circling the
globe, including one that is black.
A distinctive feature of the school bus-sized Lacrosse is the
wire mesh that covers its antennas. The patch depicts an owl,
the launch mascot, wearing what appears to be wire mesh glasses.
But the most revealing detail in the patch is the approximate
inclinations--the angle at which an orbit crosses the equator--of
the embroidered satellites.
Before the launch, Ted Molczan, a leading satellite tracker from
Canada, guessed the Titan IV would be carrying a Lacrosse, given
the size of the shroud covering the payload. But he didn't know
whether the satellite would be launched into an orbit with a 57
degree inclination, the same orbit as Lacrosse 1 and Lacrosse 3,
or an orbit with a 68 degree inclination, the same as Lacrosse 2.
After he happened to see the patch on Florida Today's Web site,
his quandary was resolved: The patch clearly showed the new
satellite at the 68 degree inclination. So Molczan put his
prediction out on the Internet before the launch: "If this
interpretation [of the patch] is correct, then I believe that the
available clues now point more strongly to a 68 degree
inclination."
And wouldn't you know: The Titan IV lifted off and put its
payload into orbit_with a 68 degree inclination. Molczan and his
fellow satellite trackers have been eyeing it ever since, racing
through the night sky at thousands of miles an hour, more than
500 kilometers above Earth. And now they're certain: It's a
Lacrosse.
"If they're overhead, they're clearly visible to the naked eye,"
Molczan said. "Lacrosse is about as bright as the stars that
make up the Big Dipper."
Art Haubold, an NRO spokesman, seemed faintly annoyed by
Molczan's predictions. "I'm not going to get into whether or not
I felt [the patch] went too far," Haubold said. "As I say, there
are explanations for all parts of the patch. People are always
speculating about what our classified missions are, and this
launch is no different. The payload is classified, and
obviously, we don't discuss it."
For those interested in viewing a government secret as it zooms
through the sky over Washington, satellite trackers using
software available on the Internet calculate that what they say
is Lacrosse 4 will orbit the Washington area, 42 degrees in the
sky at a west-northwest bearing, at 4:36 a.m. Thursday.
Unraveling a Mystery
Amateur satellite observers say a patch distributed by the
National Reconnaissance Office revealed the secret payload of a
Titan IV launched Aug. 17.
Besides representing owl eyes, the image symbolizes a Lacrosse
spy satellite's mesh antennas.
Slogan refers to the spy satellite's radar imaging, which works
at night or through clouds.
Four bird shapes represent the four Lacrosse satellites believed
to have been deployed so far.
The black one refers to Lacrosse 1, deorbited in 1997.
Two of the birds are shown flying with a 57 degree inclination,
the same as Lacrosse 1 and Lacrosse 3. The other two are shown
flying at a 68 degree inclination, the same as Lacrosse 2 and,
apparently, Lacrosse 4, the secret payload.
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