Doug Liddle

Planet has imposed a 14-day delay on satellite imagery across the Middle East. The company is US-headquartered and subject to US national security restrictions. The world has come to rely on commercial satellite imagery for independent journalism, conflict monitoring and humanitarian access. But that infrastructure is concentrated in a few companies, mostly American. When those companies restrict access - whether voluntarily or under pressure - there is no fallback. No international mechanism. No agreed principles. Just individual companies, under individual national jurisdictions, making unilateral decisions about who gets to see what globally. I am not saying Planet made the wrong call. These are hard decisions with real consequences for personnel on the ground. But right or wrong, the point is that there is literally no framework for making these calls, and no alternative how/when they are made. We have the International Atomic Energy Agency for nuclear energy and the World Meteorological Organization for weather. We have no governing body for Earth observation - arguably the most powerful diagnostic tool we have for understanding what is happening on the planet. A few months ago, I wrote an essay arguing for a Global Earth Observation Accord - a political framework for EO governance. This week is why. 94 countries are now pursuing sovereign EO programs. If there was ever a time to have this conversation, it is now.