Examines America's "black" space system of satellites that constitutes the nation's most expensive intelligence operation: space espionage.

Includes index.

Need to know -- Denied territory -- Assets, black and skunky -- Threats, real and imagined -- Cuban missile crisis: pictures at an exhibition -- Arms control and the acceptance of "spies" in the sky -- Air breathers: Blackbirds and Cobras -- Foreign bases: a net spread wide -- Through the keyhole -- Real time: the advent of instant intelligence -- In the arena: cosmos, spoofing, and killer satellites -- Reconnaissance and politics: Nicaragua and the missing MiGs -- Into the future: HALO, SPOT, radar farms, and other exotic assets -- Arms control verification and national security.