[masraum]

My understanding is that they have had the ability to virtually read a license plate from orbit for many, many years. I suspect the movies make some stuff seem really spectacular, but that the stuff that the govt has while not as flashy is pretty amazing. But it's just me WAG. I've got no first hand exp. My dad was a spook in the Navy, but never really told me anything. He took his clearance stuff very seriously.