HOUSTON -- The News2Houston Investigators reported Tuesday night in an exclusive story that a new report on Capitol Hill said that our nation's spy satellites can be compromised by anyone with a computer.

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Hobbyists, who watch the International Space Station fly over or other various bright satellites whizzing by, rely on specific data to tell them exactly where and when to look upward.

NASA posts a lot of the data on a special Web site, not only for hobbyists, but for companies that actually have satellites in orbit.

The companies need the data so that they can avoid collisions with space junk.

However, The Investigators have obtained a Congressional report that stated that the data can be abused by terrorists or drug-networks.

According to the report, NASA's data could allow someone "to damage or jam" the spy satellites or "move military or other assets at appropriate times to avoid detection."

"It's something certainly of concern to me, now that I'm aware of it," U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson said.

The Defense Department said that the Web site poses "no threat to national security."

However, the Pentagon and NASA have agreed to conduct a full-scale assessment to make sure.

The Investigators found that they were able to get a hold of that data without providing much information about who they were or why they wanted it.

Meantime, the Congressional report also pointed out that there were a number of "questionable users."

According to the report, a user called "newboy1" logged on from Afghanistan the day after the Sept. 11 attacks. Plus, two other users from China also logged on that same day.

Lampson said that he's afraid that terrorists or anyone else could be logging on so that they can stay hidden.

"Anything that we can control, as far as registration, I know that we can do background checks before allowing someone to get on," Lampson said. "I hope we do that, and we do so very quickly."

The data on the spy satellites is now missing from NASA's Web site, as the full-scale review gets started.

But satellite enthusiast Mike McCants and other hobbyists provide their observations and data to another private Web site.

McCants said that he's noticed that even that site has pulled most of the spy satellite data.

"It's not hard at all for anyone with binoculars to look and keep tabs with no trouble at all," McCants said.

The Pentagon is expected to issue formal recommendations in September, on what needs to be changed to keep the nation's spy satellites invisible.

For more information, click on the following links:

• http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3D.html
• www.eclipsetours.com/sat/why.html
• http://oig1.gsfc.nasa.gov/scripts/foxweb.exe/app01?
• www.gao.gov