Pat Flannery wrote


I sort of doubt that they wouldn't know that KH-11 was a recon sat, both
it's orbital path and altitude would have differentiated it from a
ferret satellite, plus they would have taken photos of it in orbit, and
it would have looked different from a SIGINT or RORSAT.


See http://www.fas.org/spp/military/prog.../tm120402.html