Commercial Imagery's Growing Role in National Security

Podcast
Written By Adam Simmons

In this special session of Project Geospatial our guest is Rob Zitz who helps us dive into the discussion of Commercial Imagery's role in national security. A few topics we hit on:

  • Why US government should flip the paradigm, and only build classified collection systems to fill gaps in information that US commercial companies cannot collect (versus viewing commercial as an augmentation of classified systems)

  • How US government past decisions allowed foreign countries to nearly corner the market on SAR and why we need to see USG investment in commercial SAR satellites

  • The need to press forward on more advanced commercial remote sensor satellites and avoid a repeat of the SAR debacle (e.g., hyperspectral, RF and LiDAR commercial satellites) * How COVID-19 can help us break the “if it isn’t classified, it isn’t worth looking at” culture in the Intelligence Community

Adam Simmons

Geospatial Industry Consultant | Founder, Project Geospatial

Adam Simmons is a geospatial technology liaison and strategic advisor with over 20 years of experience across the defense and commercial sectors. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he specialized in imagery analysis and order of battle before transitioning to executive leadership as the CEO of Midgard Raven, LLC and the founder of Project Geospatial, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to highlighting innovation within the geospatial ecosystem. Adam bridges the gap between technical development and market storytelling, leveraging his extensive background as a journalist and industry consultant to help companies navigate complex technology landscapes.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsimmonsgeo
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