The presence of US reconnaissance aircraft making numerous passes over territory belonging to another nation would tip off an impending operation. Therefore, file imagery or imagery obtained by satellite may be the only reference available. These patterns are key indicators to the enemy of specific operational activities. Patterns usually occur because of a unit's SOP and doctrine. All friendly activities thus need to be examined collaterally with imagery of a particular area.
Imagery can provide confirmation of installations, lines of communications, and operational zones.
SLAR, for example, can detect night movements of watercraft. Such a process identifies the possible compromise of an existing element, activity, or characteristic based on logical relationships and hypotheses developed by analysis. The process is a continuous one. By applying this technique against our own units, analysts can identify vulnerabilities. Movement analysis forms an important step in the identification and recommendation of countermeasures.