The author makes a case for establishing cooperative projects between India and Pakistan to share commercial satellite imagery on nuclear facilities to "provide a non-intrusive beginning in greater nuclear transparency" between the two countries.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a professor of space law at the University of Tennessee, argues that the first amendment will prohibit government attempts to censor private remote sensing satellites. He argues that satellites will benefit national security by promoting openness and transparency.
High-resolution commercial satellite imagery increases the visibility of areas of the world that were until recently seen by only a few intelligence agencies. Activities in totalitarian states such as North Korea are now visible to anyone. An episode involving North Korean secret nuclear weapon activities in the early 1990s demonstrates the power that such imagery can provide to the public and international organizations.
Florini and Dehqanzada discuss the implications of the growing availability of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery. They examine the effect greater transparency will have on economic, environmental, and military affairs and conclude that more openness will on balance be beneficial.
The authors argue that instead of commercial satellite imagery being used to promote transparency and cooperative security, "a Darwinian imperative will lead to more effective use of this new tool by relatively agile terrorist organizations, guerrilla groups, and other such combatants seeking to engage in asymmetrical warfare against larger, better equipped opponents. Conversely, effective use of this new capability by would-be benefactors such as the United Nations would require them to change standard operating procedures and rethink the problematic role of intelligence in their operations."