Terrorists know when our satellites pass over?

It's a foregone conclusion that ALL the world's major powers are 'leaking' satellite information to groups that are operating in the 'better interests' of those powers. That might include modern-day insurgents operating in Pakistan, Syria, Iran, and even Africa. The idea of suddenly 're-tasking' one of these satellites, and creating a fresh new database of potential national embarrassments, is unthinkable, and was unthinkable, even before the days of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

Once a satellite's orbit is established it is very predictable. One needs to sight the satellite and plot its position only twice to map the orbit.

The satellites are managed by the National Reconnaissance Office, an organization whose existence was classified until (I think) the early 1990's. The satellite programs remain classified, but the existence of the NRO is now acknowledged. I am able to legally to describe theoretical satellite orbits.

They boil down to a handful of types. The geostationary orbit that is popular for communications satellites. This orbit puts the satellite at an altitude at which its linear velocity matches the rotational speed of the Earth. In such an altitude it will stay directly overhead one spot on the Earth throughout its life. A similar orbit is the geosynchronous. In this orbit the satellite follows a figure eight pattern that passes over the same spot on the Earth every 24 hours. Some satellites might be in a much lower altitude orbit, or low Earth orbit (LEO). Orbits above (I think) about 500 miles are called high Earth orbits (HEO). HEO can also stand for "highly elliptical orbit" in which the perigee is much smaller than the apogee.

Note the dialogue in the scene when Jack Ryan says "the terrorists probably know the satellites schedule better than we do." That is obvious hyperbole, but they could know the approximate times of pass over fairly easily. So, he asks for "retasking." Retasking requires the expending of fuel on board a satellite, in those satellites that are equipped with a motor and fuel. Retasking is avoided because the fuel is always limited and one never knows when a future retasking may be desired even more than the current request. But, it can be done on some satellites.

None of the foregoing is classified because it is known by anyone who has taken a college level course on Newtonian mechanics. I will not go into what is classified because it might send me to jail. It has been so long since I studied it, I probably remember it wrong, anyway.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.