USDA PROPOSED REPORT ON H.R. 4836/LANDSAT COMMERCIALIZATION ACT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00338R000200280005-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 11, 2008
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 15, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND' BUDGET
WASHINGTON. D.C* 2001
March 15, 1984
TIEGISLATIVE REFERRAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Legislative Liaison Officer
Department of Commerce .
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Department of the Interior
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Federal Communications Commission
a~
General Services Administration
Department of Justice
D~
Department of State
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Central Intelligence Agency v~
National Security Council
Department of Transportation
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SUBJECT: Act
The Office of Management and Budget requests the views of your
agency on the above subject before advising on its relationship
to the program of the President, in accordance with OMB Circular
A-19.
Please provide us with your views no later than LY
C.O.B. Friday, April 6, 1984.
Direct your questions to William A. Maxwell (395-3890), the
legislative analyst in this office.
f G~L_
Jawet"'C. Muir or
Assistant Director for
Legislative Reference
Enclosures
cc:
S.
D.
T.
A.
Gudes
Taft
Sprehe
Donahue
N.
P.
B.
H.
Noonan
Szervo
Hughes
Lilienthal
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USDA proposed report on H.R. 4836/LANDSAT Commercialization
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
WASHINGTON. D. C. 20250
Honorable James H. Scheuer
Chairman, Subcommittee on
Natural Resources, Agriculture
Research and Environment of the
Committee on Science and Technology
House of Representatives
Washington,,, D. C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
This is in reply to your request of February 13, 1984, for a report on H.R.
4835, "To establish a system to promote the use of land remote-sensing
satellite data, and for other purposes."
This Department has no objection to the enactment of the bill, provided the
sections 501, 502(b), and 502(c) are amended to make it clear that the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautic
and Space Administration are directed to undertake only research and
development activities with respect to land' remote-sensing and that sectior
603 be clarified to permit Federal agencies to reproduce and exchange data
without restrictions and without additional payment to the system operator.
The bill provides guidance to the United States Government in promoting
commercialization of land remote-sensing from space with a framework for th
gradual transition of civil land remote-sensing satellites from the Federal
sector to private ownership and operation. Key provisions of the bill
enable the Secretary of Commerce to contract with a private sector party tc
operate the existing United States civil land remote-sensing system and to
contract with a private sector party for data from land remote-sensing
systems that are established as successors to the existing
government-operated system. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Commerce
to license qualified private sector parties to operate civil remote-sensinc
space systems and provides for the regulation of such systems. The bill
provides for a comprehensive program of research and development of
remote-sensing from space and contains general provisions for dissemination
and archiving of remote-sensing data and for ensuring that national securit
concerns and international commitments of the United States are met. The
bill prohibits commercialization of meteorological satellites at this time.
This Department endorses those provisions of the bill that guarantee
non-discriminatory access to remote-sensing data and supports the concept
implicitly established in the bill that commercial systems will not be
subsidized by governmental users of data.
Title V of the bill is concerned with research and developments and we
believe it is important that it be limited to that subject. We therefore
recommend that references in sections 501, 502(b), and 502(c) to "research
and monitoring" or "research, technology, and monitoring" be amended to rea
"research and development of technology to monitor."
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Honorable James H. Scheuer 2
Section 603 specifies that the operator of a land remote-sensing system may
sell data under the condition that such data will not be reproduced and
disseminated by the purchaser. It is necessary that Federal agencies be
permitted to reproduce digital remote-sensing data for internal use so that
data will be available in the event that original files or computer tapes
are inadvertently destroyed or erased. It is also highly desirable that
Federal agencies within a single department be permitted to exchange
remote-sensing data freely and without restriction or additional cost in
order to achieve maximum efficiency in research and operational programs.
We therefore recommend that section 603 be amended to include the following
sentence:' Federal agencies.may reproduce digital remote-sensing data for
internal use and may transfer remote-sensing data without restriction or
additional-cost within the Federal department of purchase."
The Office of Management and Budget advises that there is no objection to
the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's
programs.
Sincerely,
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