This report deals with the topic of optical satellite reconnaissance from a couple of different perspectives. Two countries, USA and France, with satellite reconnaissance capacity are described regarding their capacity and organization. The future European capability regarding satellite reconnaissance is being analyzed. Finally an estimation of the need for high resolution satellite imagery for civilian Swedish authorities is made. USA has for a long time been the leading military space nation with the most advanced satellite reconnaissance systems. Regarding technical systems, American intelligence agencies tend to work on a national level with very little interaction with other countries. This has lead to the fact that USA is leading with a position that would not gain much from cooperation; this is also partly an inheritance from the cold war. France has for a long time been the leading space nation in Western Europe regarding space systems for military and intelligence use. France is also the only European nation, except for Russia, that has developed and operationally been using military reconnaissance satellites. France has a very clear national space policy/strategy that, contrary to the space policy in the USA, is based on cooperation. It also seems that France supports a future expanding structure of this same policy. The European capability regarding satellite imagery varies depending on the type of imagery. The civilian ability to produce low resolution imagery is going to decrease greatly or even stop in 2008. On the other hand, there is going to be an abundance of SAR-imagery between 2007 and 2014.