The article looks at the potential for information gathered by the U.S. government through various kinds of surveillance, typically for national security purposes, to be made publicly available for non-military uses such as rescues in natural disasters. It profiles the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), including its shift in focus toward human geography. Topics include the use of drones and satellites to collect visual intelligence, the NGA's creation of a public website with information relevant to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, health-related uses of the U.S. National Security Agency's data-mining technologies. Comments are presented from former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official Arthur Lundahl.