US said to be weighing spy satellite for Israel

The Reagan administration is considering giving Israel a spy satellite to compensate for the loss in its intelligence-gathering capabilities, Newsweek magazine reports.

The spy satellite would answer a longstanding Israeli desire, the magazine said, although the expensive gesture would also mean the transfer of top-secret technology and might encourage Moscow to provide such satellites to its own allies in the Mideast -- including Libya. Also, Newsweek said Reagan aides argue that giving a spy satellite to Israel would counteract any dangers posed in the controversial sale of AWACs planes to Saudi Arabia and the Syrian antiaircraft missiles that restrict Israeli reconnaissance flights over Lebanon.