The military continues to push technological frontiers in cooperation with the private sector today. Consider the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) EnhancedView program. This is a next-generation satellite platform, the result of a joint public-private effort between the nation’s intelligence establishment and America’s commercial satellite image providers. But the program is threatened by defense cuts. The commercial satellite industry provides critical geospatial information, imagery, and analysis to the Department of Defense and the national security community. They rely on the images and data to monitor hot spots around the globe.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickschulz/2012/02/07/self-inflicted-blindness-the-austerity-threat-to-innovation/