SECURITY HANDLING OF SATELLITE RECONNAISSANCE MATERIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T01137A000200070003-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 27, 1967
• Content Type: MEMO

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TO I
requested to
prepare a draft memorandum along the lines
of the attached. Any comments or suggestions
you may have would be appreciated before the
end of the week. If you would like to discuss
aspects of the draft with me, call the girls in
Bill's office nd they can get in
touch with me.
ROUTING SLIP
'Art Lundahl (Att.
FORRL
1.5
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PHONE NO.
I
25X1
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: Security Handling of Satellite
Reconnaissance Material
1. This memorandum is for your information and alerts
you to probable increasing pressure, in the near future, from
civilian agencies for, relaxation of controls on covert satellite photo-
graphy or for substantial expansion of billets and secure centars to
accommodate anticipated needs of these agencies in exploiting T-KH
photography.
2. You are aware- of the long and complicated history of
relevant events.
a.
requested the Secretary of State, in a letter of 4 Apri1,1966
that the NSAM 156 ad hoc committee review security
restrictions on reconnaissance activities and consider conflicts
in satellite reconnaissance that might arise between the NRP
and unclassified programs. COMOR was requested to study
recommendations of that Committee's report of 11 July 1966.
On 29 August 1966 you approved COMOR's recommendation
that NASA be invited to select a panel representing scientific
and technical disciplines of interest to NASA to be cleared for
access to T:-KH information in order they study these materials
and make recommendations concerning the desirability of
increased NASA participation in the T-KH program.
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b. Prior to receiving the NSAM 156 committee's
report, you had appointed an ad hoc group, chaired by
to study the problems involved in the decontrol
and downgrading of T-KH material. As a result of the group's
suggestions, the USIB agreed in principle to acknowledge the
fact of a U. S. satellite photographic reconnai3sance program at
the Secret level and to permit use of intelligence derived from
I
exploitation of satellite photography (but not the film itself) in
Secret or Top Secret publications, while identifying the source
as "satellite photography. "
c. At the Board's request, COMOR on 23 May 1967
submitted proposed guidelines for the use of intelligence
derived from satellite photography in Secret publications, along
with a draft letter amending the President's Letter of
Instruction of 26 August 1960 regarding strict security handling
of NRP products within the T-KH system. In responding to
the request for concurrence on views on the guidelines, the
Deputy Director of DIA stated that the Secretary of Defense
"feels that the advantages are not clear at this time and that
acceptance of this proposal may erode the advantages which
might be gained at some future time of the surfacing of U. S.
and ' Soviet satellite photography. " You, as chairman of the
then
USIB, with other Board member 4 on-concerned with the
Ir-I . 1-1 1-
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guise -ies and requested COMOR to u-''ertake appropriate
revision of the Sanitization Manual as a way to obtain greatEr
liberalization in the use of T-KH products. This is where
the subject of control of covert reconnaissance photography
stands at the present time.
3. By January 1967 no final action had been taken by NASA
to establish a panel, as requested by you (paragraph 2a), although some
scientists had been cleared. Finally,
horns. You will recall that he, with your concurrence and that of
took steps to initiate a program for using individuals from
took the bull by the
civilian agencies to undertake the evaluation of existing satellite
photography for economic, social, and earth resource surveys. The
Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Interior provided the team
members for the program, called Project ARGO, and representatives
from NASA and AID assisted as necessary. NPIC and the Corps of
Engineers provided essential support. The work has been conducted
in the secure center a
in Alexandria.
4. The report of Project ARGO is now in final stages of
preparation and will be published early in February 1968. In
monitoring the Project, we conclude that the interested civilian depart-
ments and agencies will exert very substantial pressure for renewed
consideration of means whereby T-KH photography can be more
effectively used to.-their benefit. Their representatives at Project
ARGO anticipate possible
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"spin-offs" for the intelligence community. In distributing the ARGO
report, can be expected to address letters to you and to
other heads of departments and agencies concerned, asking for their
views on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
5. To place Project ARGO in full context, the objectives
provided to you b7 in his memo of 26 January 1967 are
repeated here:
To evaluate the existing satellite
photography and describe its usefulness for physical
resource surveys and-its bearing on the design of
future systems.
"(2) To, develop a small cadre of civilian
agency personnel who will know what information
is available and how the photography can be used.
"(3)
To produce a resource inventory of
a particular area of interest to AID to show what
might be done with the existing photography and to
determine whether the work should be extended. "
6. Everyone connected with. the Project is aware of the
strict controls that now pertain to T-KH photography and of the
possibilities of controlled sanitization of information derived from
this photography. The usefulness of T-KH photography to the civilian
agencies would be limited if it were restricted to existing controls.
There appears to
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be a consensus that it would be very useful for preliminary study of
foreign areas, particularly those of difficult access, and for the
planning and management levels in giving a synoptic view of large
areas. For detailed investigations, the value of various types' of
T-KH photography vary greatly with the individual problems of the
separate disciplines. ? The scientists who participated in Project ARGO
feel strongly that full use could not possibly be made of the
photography unless it were to be declassified on some selective basis
or a large number of scientists in and out of government were to be
cleared into the system with several secure work centers established.
7. There was discussion of the possibilities of using the
U-2 and conventional aircraft as platforms for earth-oriented sensors
for detailed resource surveys in the United States. Nevertheless,
civilian interest in the potentials of satellite reconnaissance for earth
resources study remains high. The scientists recognize the potential
of unclassified satellites as platforms for, a variety of earth-oriented'
sensors not currently being developed for use in the NRP. Much
interest has been, expressed in use of improved color film, repetitive
coverage at selected periods, and near real-time receipt of imagery
and other sensor data.
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8.. There has been a recent intensification in planning
the development of unclassified satellites and sensors responsive*
to the needs of scientists and others engaged in earth resources
surveys. Representatives of NASA expect that some of their
decisions will be influenced by findings and conclusions of Project
ARGO. On 18 December 1967 several senior officials of NASA
visited NPIC in order to acquire some understanding of the
problems they face in planning for equipment, research and
development, and personnel for the interpretation of imagery and
other sensor data in an unclassified exploitation center at a
site yet to be selected.
9.
It would appear to be in the U. S. interest to
reduce the need for the development of unclassified satellite
photographic systems to collect some of the information that can
be acquired now and in the future by the NRP. No actions should
be taken in this regard that would compromise essential national
and military security; nor should satellite systems of the NRP be
adapted to collect data not now planned for future acquisition within the
Program where cost would be unacceptable or the efficiency of a system
in conducting its primary mission would be unduly impaired.
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