The Bush administration’s plan to conduct domestic surveillance by using spy satellites is facing opposition on Capitol Hill. House Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson has warned the Department of Homeland Security that Congress plans to closely oversee the program. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation’s vast network of spy satellites. According to officials, the spy satellites will be used in part to monitor the nation’s borders and to aid federal and local law enforcement agencies. Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data. Experts say there is effectively no legal framework governing their domestic use, raising concerns from privacy advocates that Americans could be subject to warrantless surveillance from space. Some military experts have questioned whether domestic use of such satellites would violate the Posse Comitatus Act. The act bars the military from engaging in law enforcement activity inside the U.S., and the satellites were predominantly built for and owned by the Defense Department.