Is there a good history of spy satellites anywhere? It ought to be amazing - I remember watching Ice Station Zebra as a kid, where super-spies fought to the death over a canister of film, and now Google gives away better resolution photos.
The US downgraded moon photos to prevent Russians getting an idea of the quality, Russian subs were analysed with one photo and a scratch on the titanium plating. It would be great to see that playing out - technology, analysis and politics shown together.
You gotta do some digging through the archives at The Space Review[0], but Dwayne Day has some outstanding articles over there on NRO projects. Keywords to look for are HEXAGON and NRO.
I believe some US military bases are hidden on Google Maps. But it's not an issue if you're trying to find them. You can derive their location from soldiers doing laps around the base and uploading their run data to Strava.
This is due to arms control treaties. The ICBM bases and other critical infrastructures can't be hidden, because the other side needs to be able to verify with their own eyes that you're complying with your part of the treaty, and vice-versa.
My dad was a Capt. in the USAF in the mid 60's. He was stationed at Minot AFB, ND., and launched a new test Minuteman, but of course he didn't know it was a test at the time he and his partner were ordered to turn their keys during the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union. I have a plaque with the key he turned (the teeth were filed off though) along with a poster-sized color photo of the missile coming out of the ground and his issued 38 special S&W revolver. Since he was locked away underground with 1 other person for days at a time with no contact with the outside world, I was wondering why they had guns. He said it was in case your partner didn't turn their key after ordered to do so...
One thing he got a kick of before he passed away, was using google earth to check out the old base. He was surprised at how much you could see.
The nonfiction book Into the Black by Rowland White has a portion about the Space Shuttle's use launching NRO satellites. This is a fascinating use of the shuttle not many talk about.
The US downgraded moon photos to prevent Russians getting an idea of the quality, Russian subs were analysed with one photo and a scratch on the titanium plating. It would be great to see that playing out - technology, analysis and politics shown together.