REVISED VERSION: 156 COMMITTEE REPORT ON SKYLAB EARTH TERRAIN CAMERA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B01709A002000050002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 17, 2005
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 2, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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NASA REVIEW COMPLETED HANDLE V I A
TOP SECRET
MEMORANDUM FOR: DOD - Mr. Dwayne Anderson
CONTROL SYSTEM O,~C1A
2 April 1973
CIA - Mr. Donald Ste i n i ngerl/
NASA - Mr. David W11 1 iamson
ACDA Mr. Richard L. Durham
NSC - Mr. David Elliott
FROM . State - H. G. Handyside jl.
SUBJECT : Revised Version: 156 Committee Report on SKYLAB Earth
Terrain Camera
A revised version of the 156 Committee Report on the SKYLAB Earth
Terrain Camera is attached for review and concurrence. The revised draft
reflects the comments and suggestions made by your agencies on the initial
draft of the Report.
Several members of the 156 Committee expressed concern about the
lack of a precisely defined post-launch screening organization and about
the vagueness of the screening criteria. CIA explicity recommended the
elaboration of detailed screening criteria and proposed specific language
to this end. The CIA recommendation, broadened somewhat to include
suggestions from others, has been incorporated in the text on page 9
and has been reflected in the Recommendation section by the addition of a
second formal recommendation on page 2.
The text of the Report has been revised at various points (through
phrase changes, deletions, and the addition of new material) to reflect
the somewhat less sanguine outlook of several Committee members about the
growing international concerns about remote sensing via satellite and the
sensitivities/apposition which has been voiced by some representatives in
the UN Remote Sensing Working Group about the legal and proprietary issues
which this technology raises. The existence and the importance of legal
and economic "sensitivities", for example, has been explicitly addressed
in the revised draft.
CIA also recommended the mounting of a broad scale study of U. Sc.
policy on remote sensing of D4her sovereign nations, with particular
emphasis on the economic/comriercial value of data obtained in this fashion
and speci fical ly, the commercial value of such data to U.S. companies and
industries. The critical need for such a study has beon underscored in
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NRO, NASA and State ~y
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other forums (most recently in the NSSM-72 Space Cooperation interagency
working group). Since the expertise required is located in NASA, interior,
Agriculture, etc., renewed efforts to get one or more of these agencies
to produce the desired study may be in order. To this end, State would
propose to emphasize the need for a study of this sort by recording CIA's
first recommendation in whatever transmittal memorandum is eventually
drafted to forward the 156 Committee Report to the 40 Committee.
Given the time-frame that confronts us, I would very much appreciate
receiving your'clearance of the revised draft Report by c.o.b. Friday,
April 6. A "go" phone call before then would be most welcome. If you have
extensive comments or suggestions, perhaps we could arrange a face-to-face
session in order to speed up the resolution process.
cc: NRO -1 1
40 Committee Executive Secretary, Mr. Ratliffe
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NSAM 156 Committee
SKYLAB
Photographic Flight Plans for Earth Terrain Camera
The Problem:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has requested
authorization to employ on the SKYLAB orbiting laboratory an Earth Terrain
Camera having a ground resolution of between 10 and 20 meters. The resolu-
tion of this camera exceeds the 20-meter constraint recommended in 1966 for
unclassified space programs.
In September 1971, the NSAM 156 Committee recommended to Dr. Henry A.
Kissinger that NASA be authorized to employ -- and to release photographs
acquired by -- the high resolution Earth Terrain Camera (ETC) subject to
certain procedural safeguards. The safeguards agreed upon by the Committee
were:
(a) Prior-launch screening of flight plans to preclude
photography of "sensitive areas";
(b) Final review by the 40 Committee of photographic flight
planning in light of international factors existing immediately prior
to launch;
(c) Post-launch screening of potentially sensitive photography
acquired by the high resolu~-iDn camera to prevent the release of any imagery
that would be damaging to U.S. interests or would embarrass the United States
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in any way.
Dr. Kissinger subsequently approved the 156 Committee recommenda-
The launch date for SKYLAB-I has now been set for May 14. The
requirement to make final mission planning decisions in the next few weeks
imposes the need to make a final determination as soon as possible on the
detailed utilization of the Earth Terrain Camera.
Recommendation:
The detailed photographic flight plans covering the utilization of
the high resolution Earth Terrain Camera proposed by NASA should be approved,
subject to a final review by the 40 Committee immediately prior to launch,
and with the understanding that any photography acquired will be screened
prior to public release. C
At the same time, action should be taken now to organize the SKYLAB
screening task force and to elaborate the procedures to be followed by this
group and the detailed criteria to be applied. It is therefore recommended
that the 40 Committee request the Director of Central Intelligence to under-
take this task on a priority basis, in cooperation with NASA and the other
agencies which have a direct interest in the broader political and economic
as well as the intelligence aspects of the problem.
Discussion:
Only sixty-five of the over two thousand manned orbits SKYLAB will
make during the entire eight month mission are dedicated to earth observa-
tion. The Earth Terrain Camera will be employed during a maximum of fifty
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of these earth-oriented orbits. (In fact, a more realistic figure would
be forty orbits.) Before each planned earth observation pass, Mission
Control will decide, in the near real time, on the basis of weather
conditions and the number of investigation sites which can be covered
whether or not to execute the pass. If a planned pass is cancelled because
of bad weather, an attempt will be made to obtain the desired photography
either during the pass over the identical track five days later or to obtain
photography of the investigation sites involved on an alternate pass. The
Earth Terrain Camera will take approximately 7,000 pictures. On 50% of
them, 20 meter color-infrared film will be used; on 25%, 15 meter class
color film; and on 25%, 10 meter class B & W film.
Appropriate Soviet scientists and space officials were briefed on
SKYLAB in 1971. In carrying out this 156 Committee recommendation in
Moscow, NASA described both the mission and the equipment of the orbiting
manned laboratory, including the characertistics of the ETC. The USSR
was offered the opportunity to participate in both the Earth Resources
Technology Satellite (ERTS) and the Earth Resources Experimental Package
(EREP) programs. Although the USSR has made no direct response to this
U.S. initiative, it has arranged to purchase ERTS data and, as an outgrowth
of the Moscow Summit, is participating with the United States in the joint
remote sensing of the natural environment program.
International political -+nd national security considerations place
certain areas of the globe in a ".sensitive" category. The land mass and
the land and sea approaches to the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of
China; North Korea; the P-i dd i c East, spac i f i cal i l y the border areas separating
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Israel and the Arab States and the areas adjacent to and on both sides
of the Suez Canal; the border area between India and Pakistan; and certain
locations in the United States are "sensitive areas" so far as the public
release of high resolution satellite photography is concerned. In
addition, photography of certain activities of an economic as well as of
a security nature could well be "sensitive". Photography revealing
commercially sensitive crop information, illegally operating fishing boats,
or undeveloped mineral deposits cou: arouse vigorous objections from
commodity suppliers and traders, cr.te difficult problems between neighbors,
and stimulate further international concern over the legal and economic
problems associated with remote sensing by satellites.
In devising the photographic flight plans for the ETC, NASA has
taken care to avoid all the generally accepted "sensitive areas". There
is no high resolution ETC photography planned of either the Soviet Union
or the Peoples Republic of China. (In two instances, very limited coverage
of the Black Sea and of Manchuria may result from premature start-up or
delayed shut-down of the high resolution camera.) All photography planned
is in response to requirements established by participating investigators
both foreign and domestic. Where foreign investigators have proposed sites
in their own countries, this has been done with the knowledge and approval
of their governments. No proposals for investigation sites were received
from either the USSR or the PRC.
Although there is no planned photography of the USSR or the PRC by
the Earth Terrain Camera, bad weather and other contingencies may require
the use of other than the planned passes for photography of certain of the
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investigation areas. In that event, it is possible there might be
inadvertent acquisition of ETC photography over currently "denied areas".
Should that occur, the final, prior-to-public release screening will make
appropriate remedial action possible.
Similarly, there is no Earth Terrain Camera photography planned of
the Israel-Arab border area. Depending on precisely when the camera is
turned on to photograph the Sea of Japan investigation area, a narrow
strip of North Korea (as well as Manchuria) may be covered. Depending on
precisely when the camera is turned off after photographing investigation
areas around the Adriatic Sea, a short strip of Romania may be covered.
The projected coverage of the India-Pakistan border area by the ETC has
been included in the photographic flight plan in direct response to the
requests from investigators in the two countries for coverage of the entire
Sub-Continent.
Although the photographic flight plans include the Earth Terrain
Camera photography described above, we believe that this limited number of
brief excursions over the several sensitive areas around the globe will not
raise serious political problems. In addition to the above, ETC photography
is planned of certain other areas such as Mexico which might be considered
"problem" areas. However, it is believed that the potential or actual
problems connected with these additional areas are under adequate
and that any problems raised by the proposed SKYLAB Earth Terrain Camera
photography of them can be managed.
ETC photography of sensitive activities, on the other hand, may raise
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problems which are not readily or easily managed. Public disclosure of
high resolution photography of agricultural or mineral resources may
multiply existing proprietary concerns and could exacerbate the political
problems which the existence of remote sensing technology has already
created on the international front.
The final, prior-to-public release screening of any potentially
sensitive photography will be carried out through the USIB COMIREX (U.S.
Intelligence Board Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation)
mechanism in accordance with the procedures and on the basis of the specific
criteria established by the intelligence community. The representatives of
NPIC, CIA, DIA, State, and other interested agencies will examine in
particular the photography of "sensitive areas" which may be acquired by
the Earth Terrain Camera as the result of premature start-up or delayed
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shutdown. LThey will also examine in detail any photography which may be
inadvertently acquired of the Soviet Union or the Peoples Republic of China.
In screening the photography falling in these and any other potentially
sensitive categories, the reviewers will be looking particularly for any
coverage of military installations or of military-type targets. 1
The overall reaction to the flight of ERTS-l has been generally
positive. Although a few nations expressed reservations about the surveying
of earth resources by satellite and others have pressed for detailed considera-
tion in the various space organs of the United Nations of the political and
legal as well as the technical issues raised by remote sensing by satellite,
thirty-eight nations and two international agencies have participated in the
ERTS-I re-;parch program. Many others, including the Soviet Union, have
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pressed forward to obtain ERTS-I imagery. There has been no sharp
criticism of the operational details of the flight of ERTS-I, and there
have been no "outraged" protests either against any of the ERTS-I imagery
or against the release of this imagery to the general international public.
Indeed, there has been ready and in some instances enthusiastic acceptance
of these arrangements in the context of this experimental program.
Recognizing the Research and Development nature of this first remote
sensing effort, the international community has shown a willingness to over-
look for the time being some of the political, legal, and economic problem
areas which have been of intense concern to a number of states. We believe
the experimental character of SKYLAB has also been recognized and will secure
a similar moratorium on the difficult problems. But the heightened
sensitivity to the inherent issues of sovereignty, proprietary rights,
control, etc., that arise in the dissemination of earth resources sensing
data which appeared during the recent sessions of the UN Working Group on
Remote Sensing in New York suggests that the international community may
not be willing to extend its acceptance of experimental earth resources
sensing satellites into the operational phase of remote sensing activities.
Indeed, some representatives may assert that the "experimental" programs
have already developed, so far as the critical legal and proprietary issues
are concerned, to the stage of operational programs and insist that the
issues involved be resolved without delay. Thus the international concern
about remote sensing and the particular issues which it raises will have
to be dealt with before long. 'While they need not interfere with present
plans for the SKYLAD experiments, action should be taken in the very near
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future to determine what our national policies should be on the use of
earth resources sensing satellites.
The photography that will be acquired by the high resolution Earth
Terrain Camera on board SKYLAB is appreciably better than the imagery being
produced by ERTS-l. This improvement in the quality of the photography may
be sufficiently dramatic to arouse some international reaction. To reduce
the risk of this happening, steps have been taken to inform the space and
scientific communities of other nations of our plans to fly the Earth
Terrain Camera on board SKYLAB, so the utilization of this equipment should
come as no surprise to the specialists. Additional actions will be taken
prior to launch, particularly in relation to the policy level officials of
foreign governments, to publicize our intentions and thus minimize any public
reactions engendered by surprise.
Moreover, the time-sequencing of the photographic flight plans
constitutes an additional safeguard. The photography to be acquired duing
the first manned mission is almost entirely of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
The first coverage of any of the "sensitive areas" noted above will not
occur until Mission 2, beginning in August. Finally, the actual public
release of SKYLAB photography will also be sequenced. The very first SKYLAB
photography to be released will be the imagery acquired by the low resolution
cameras. Photography acquired by the Earth Terrain Camera will be released
only later. Further, arrangements are being made to insure that the first
ETC photography released will be of the United States. Only after the
initial news value of the ETC imagery has been dissipated will ETC photography
of Canada or Mexico be made public. Thus the potential problems posed by the
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public release of (a) evidence of our improved photographic capability
and of (b) actual photographs of other countries are time-separated by
approximately three months. This interval will allow an assessment of
international reaction to the ETC photography taken over (first) the U.S.
and (second) North America, and permit a modification of subsequent release
plans if this should become necessary.
Finally, once the photographic flight plans for SKYLAB are approved,
the photography program is still subject to two further reviews: a final
assessment of the international political factors immediately prior to
launch and a post-launch screening of whatever photography is acquired
before it is released to the public. Thus presently planned photography
which may become sensitive in the months ahead (whether because of the
developing international scene or because of the "sensational" nature of
the particular imagery acquired) can be handled effectively in an appropriate
fashion responsive to the developing situation.
However, in order to provide detailed guidance to those who will
carry out the post-launch screening and to prepare all concerned for the various
contingencies that may arise, action should be initiated now to organize the
SKYLAB screening task force; elaborate the detailed criteria to be used and
the procedures to be followed by the task force; and to study and define
alternative ways of handling the SKYLAB Earth Terrain Camera photography in
the event future international events make it desirable to withhold substantial
amounts of imagery from public release.
The protection of national security interests -- the freedom of
acquisition of imel l iggenco by
7 mate I i i I as 4lc I I as Jhe collection systems
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themselves -- is one of the most important objectives of the post-launch
screening. Since the Director of Central Intelligence is principally
responsible for the protection of these national security interests and
since he has at his disposal the personnel and equipment assets required
to carry out this responsibility, he is in a better position than anyone
else to organize the SKYLAB screening task force. However, since there
are political and economic as well as intelligence interests involved, the
DCI should arrange for the participation of appropriate representatives
from NASA and from the policy areas of State, Defense, and.ACDA in this
effort in order to obtain the broad range of interest and expertise that
are needed. To the extent that workable arrangements can be made, there
would be substantial advantage in having the screening process (or at
least a major proportion of it) conducted in Washington where the needed
knowledge and skills are readily available.
TO"' SECRET
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