science

Kyl–Bingaman Amendment

Kyl–Bingaman Amendment is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kyl–Bingaman Amendment rather than just read about it. In short: The Kyl–Bingaman Amendment (Public Law 104-201, Section 1064) is a United States law. It was put into force by the Military Defense National Defense Authorization Act for 1997.

Key takeaways

Kyl–Bingaman Amendment belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kyl–Bingaman Amendment to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kyl–Bingaman Amendment from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Kyl–Bingaman Amendment (Public Law 104-201, Section 1064) is a United States law. It was put into force by the Military Defense National Defense Authorization Act for 1997. The Kyl–Bingaman Amendment (KBA) prohibits US authorities from granting a license for collecting or disseminating high resolution satellite imagery of Israel at a higher resolution than is available from other commercial sources, that is, from companies outside of the United States. An exception exists if this is done by a US federal agency, or if it is done in order to abolish the secrecy of such recordings. U.S. law mandates U.S. government censorship of American commercial satellite images of no country in the world besides that of Israel. The largest and most important global sources of commercial satellite imagery, such as Maxar Technologies, Capella, and Umbra, and the largest and widely-used online resources, such as Google and Bing, are American and this makes KBA a powerful instrument of U.S. government suppression of information. For example, as a result of KBA, images on internet platforms such as Google Earth have been deliberately blurred.

History The Clinton Administration liberalized satellite communication and imaging technology for commercial uses and it declassified U.S. government satellite images taken decades before during the Cold War. The Israeli government successfully lobbied the U.S. Congress for restrictions. The amendment is named after United States Senators Jon Kyl and Jeff Bingaman.

Image resolution limit In August 2017 the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which regulates the Kyl–Bingaman Amendment restrictions, announced a review of the current image resolution limit of 2 meter Ground Sampling Distance (GSD). This was done in response to evidence that commercial satellite companies outside the United States were selling images with resolution higher than that limit. Imagery of higher resolution than the 2m GSD limitation has been commercially available from companies outside of the United States since 2012. In March 2018 research by Andrea Zerbini and Michael Fradley at the University of Oxford demonstrated that imagery below the 2m limit covering Israel had been available since 2012 from the European company Airbus, and a number of other satellite companies had subsequently passed the 2m threshold, including the South Korean company KOMPSAT, who were producing a 0.4m GSD resolution from its K3A satellite. In its October 2018 review, the NOAA rejected the evidence that sub-2m imagery of Israel was available from commercial sources outside of the U.S., but was unable to counter the factual claims of Zerbini and Fradley or to publish its own research methodology. After a further review in 2019, the NOAA reversed itself and dropped the GSD limit to 0.4m in a decision published in the Federal Register on 21 July 2020. It had found that twelve companies in eight countries offering imagery superior to 2-meter resolution, and that 13 foreign nations operate such systems about half of which offer the data commercially. It found that 0.4m satellite image products of Israel were readily available.

Impacts

Reducing visibility of Israel territories KBA's restriction on satellite image collection and dissemination has been extended to include the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights. As a consequence, the law has obscured important aspects of the Israeli territories, including the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and demolitions of Palestinian homes by the Israeli government.

Impeding scientific research and commerce A range of scientists from climate scientists to archeologists often use satellite imagery to survey and assess areas and to monitor change. Such efforts have been hindered by the lack of available high quality satellite images. Also, KBA has undermined business interests of U.S. technology companies with its restrictions on collection and dissemination of images.

References

Further reading Frans von der Dunk (Author and Editor): Handbook of Space Law. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2015, P. 529 and 858. Federal Register Notice of Findings Regarding Commercial Availability of Non-U.S. Satellite Imagery With Respect to Israel

External links Text of the amendment at Federation of American Scientists

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kyl–Bingaman Amendment

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kyl–Bingaman Amendment claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kyl–Bingaman Amendment before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kyl–Bingaman Amendment ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kyl–Bingaman Amendment

In research: Kyl–Bingaman Amendment appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kyl–Bingaman Amendment in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kyl–Bingaman Amendment is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Censorship in the United States, Geographic data and information regulation, Israel–United States relations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kyl–Bingaman Amendment outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kyl–Bingaman Amendment in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kyl–Bingaman Amendment means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kyl–Bingaman Amendment out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kyl–Bingaman Amendment in simple terms?

The Kyl–Bingaman Amendment (Public Law 104-201, Section 1064) is a United States law. It was put into force by the Military Defense National Defense Authorization Act for 1997.

Why does Kyl–Bingaman Amendment matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kyl–Bingaman Amendment?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kyl–Bingaman Amendment.