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Building business coalitionsA coalition is the lifeblood of issue advocacy.Issue coalitions enable minority intereststo build majority support. Coalitions allowdifferent interests to band together and atthe same time to maintain their separatepolicy agendas. While it is necessary toidentify and recruit ‘natural allies,’ doingso is only a first step. The more coalitionmembers reflect the same or very similarinterests, the less effective the coalition willbe. The most powerful coalitions representa broad range of interests that the publicand decision makers cannot ignore.Moving towards the building of coalitions,the SEC hosted two cabinet-secretarylevelevents in 2005 focusing on the synergiesbetween commercial satellite imageryand different sectors of American business.Our April program focused on the agribusinessindustry (see Figure 1) and our July programfocused on the energy industry. Thecouncil is aiming to create a sustainablecoalition with these and other business interestsin order to convince the public anddecision makers of the importance of commercialsatellite imagery to our national andeconomic security.Influencing events:use of the mediaThe public gets its information from themedia, but so do decision makers. The mediahas the ability to make news as well asto report it, and issue advocates can use themedia to influence policymakers. There’s asurefire way to make an agency respond,and that is to get them on the news. OurApril 2005 agribusiness and satellite imageryforum showcased keynote addressesfrom both Agriculture Secretary Mike Johannsand Senator Pat Roberts (a key memberof the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition,and Forestry Committee) and was coveredlive by CSPAN. Shortly thereafter, we weresuccessful in having language added to theagriculture appropriations bill in support ofcommercial satellite imagery.Persuading decision makers:working with the Executive BranchThe lynchpin that has driven SEC activityover the course of the last three years hasbeen the national commercial satellite remotesensing policy. The SEC was an instrumentalplayer in the drafting of the policy, workingclosely with the White House Office of Scienceand Technology Policy (OSTP) and theNational Security Council (NSC). The SEChad worked for many years cultivating relationshipsin both offices and the end resultwas a significant amount of SEC input thatwas incorporated into the national policy.Washington is all about relationship buildingand establishing trust.The road ahead for commercialsatellite imageryFor the commercial satellite imagery industryto move ahead, advances will have to bemade in the utilization of the imagery bythe United States government civilian agencies.Use of commercial satellite imagery bythe national security sector will continue togrow with the Future Imagery Architecture(FIA) program, though it is years behindschedule. The industry clearly needs to makeinroads both inside and outside the beltwayin order to create an impact with the civilianagencies. The SEC stands ready to assistwith this critical mission.The SEC was founded in 2000 to representbusinesses with a commercial interest inspace. Over the past five years, the Councilhas grown to represent all sectors of theindustry, including commercial, civil, andmilitary space. As a forum for space-relatedcompanies, the council brings the collectivepower of its affiliation with the U.S. Chamberof Commerce and its diverse members into asingle, unified voice that is used in advocatingmember interests to policymakers. TheCouncil’s primary focus is the unique connectionbetween space-based applications andour economy. The Council’s Executive Directoris David Logsdon and he can be reached atdlogsdon@uschamber.com.w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o ms u m m e r 2 0 0 619