Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!fulk
From: fulk@cs.rochester.edu (Mark Fulk)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: satellites
Message-ID: <5644@sol.ARPA>
Date: 5 Jan 88 19:52:22 GMT
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept., Rochester, NY
Lines: 39

The reference for the following is an old issue of Discover, probably
about six months ago.  Obviously, I don't have it in hand as I type.

There is a mechanism (non-satellite) by which Waite might have very reasonably
been recognizably photographed.  Of course, he would have had to be outside.

Note that he would not have to be unmasked; other distinguishing
characteristics might have identified him.  Remember that Waite is quite tall
and broad-shouldered; he stands out in a crowd in Lebanon.  If one saw a
tall, broad-shouldered masked person with a big head in the midst of a bunch
of Arabic captors in Beirut, he would almost certainly be Waite.

The mechanism is video surveillance by the Mastiff remotely-piloted airplane.
The Mastiff is essentially a model airplane with a wingspan of seven or eight
feet; it is propeller driven and can hold a fairly close position quite high
without drawing a lot of attention.  The Israeli's have made very effective
use of the Mastiff in the past; once they showed an American general a complete
video record of his comings and goings in Lebanon during an official visit.
The general was previously unaware of the surveillance.  A consequence of
that event is that the US is busy developing its own (grossly over-expensive
hi-tech) version of the same thing.

The advantages of this hypothesis are that 1) a low picture angle that
would allow seeing Waite's face or guessing his body dimensions would
be feasible and 2) a past record of just this sort of surveillance in
Lebanon.  The story is more believable if the captors were unaware of the
surveillance and thus had no reason to conceal Waite from the skies.

Then why the satellite story?  Possibly crossed (Lacrossed?) wires;
possibly another RPV that uses a satellite link to send its pictures (why?);
possibly someone wants the photograph seen but doesn't want the real source
known.  Speculation is endless.

With respect to the credibility of AP: remember they merely reported the
words of another newspaper about the Waite picture; they did not stake
their reputation on the truth of those words.

Mark Fulk
fulk@cs.rochester.edu