The Air Force has accepted a ceremonial $10 from Merced County in California for some 1,900 acres of the former Castle Air Force Base, reports the Modesto Bee via the Merced Sun-Star. Considering some Merced residents gave the nearly 2,800-acre facility to the Army Air Forces in 1940, it was probably a fair deal. The base closed under BRAC 1995 and has been the subject of cleanup and transfer actions, including giving other parcels of the land to the Bureau of Prisons and Human and Health Services.
The Pentagon agency charged with building and operating U.S. spy satellites recently declassified some details about a Cold War-era surveillance program called Jumpseat—a revelation it says sheds light on the importance of satellite imaging technology and how it has advanced in the decades since.
