DELAY OF SHUTTLES MAY HURT SPY WORK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270009-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: January 30, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270009-0
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ON PAGE _.t
Delay of
shuttles
may hurt
spy work
By Fred Kaplan
Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - Delays in fu-
ture space shuttle missions,
caused by the disastrous explo-
sion of the Challenger this week.
could leave the United States with
no spy satellites able to take pho-
tographs over Soviet territory that
are useful to the military, accord-
ing to intelligence sources.
There Is general agreement
that the Impact will not be so seri-
ous If the cause of Tuesday's acci-
dent is found and fixed fairly
quickly, so that the next mission
can be launched sometime this
year.
However, if the delays persist
through 1987, US intelligence
agencies could be left with a seri-
ous shortcoming In their ability to
monitor military activities of the
USSR and other countries.
NASA officials say they do not
yet know how long they will have
to wait before they can launch the
next shuttle into space.
There could also be setbacks in
the Reagan administration's Stra-
tegic Defense Initiative, but mili-
tary analysts say those delays will
be minor compared with the possi-
ble gap in spy-satellite coverage.
The Intelligence shortfall con-
cerns the CIA's top-secret KH-12
reconnaissance satellite, which
was scheduled to be lofted into
space onboard a shuttle this Sep-
tember. The KH-12 Is an updated
version of the KH-1 1. Both satel-
lites can take pictures over the So-
viet Union with astonishing reso-
lution. and can transmit digitally
encoded signals of those photos to
receiving stations on earth within
seconds.
The CIA has traditionally kept
two of those satellites in orbit at
all times. However, there is now
only one. Last August. the most
BOSTON GLOBE
30 January 1986
recently built KH-11 was
launched from Vandenberg Air
Force Base in California onboard
a Titan rocket. but the Titan and
its cargo went into the Pacific
Ocean.
The downed KH-11 was to have
replaced one that had just been re-
tired.
According to Jeffrey Richelson,
a professor at American Universi-
ty and author of "The US Intelli-
gence Community." the KH-11
now in space was launched in De-
cember 1984. An intelligence offi-
cial says it will probably expire in
early 1987.
That KH-11 is the only US sat-
ellite able to take photos with suf-
ficient clarity to make them useful
for military-intelligence purposes.
Richelson said the camera on the
KH-11 probably has a resolution
of about six inches. meaning that
it can distinguish between two ob-
jects six inches apart.
The new KH-12 Is too heavy to
be launched in the next couple of
years by anything but the space
shuttle. Thus, a serious delay in
the next shuttle missions could
force the United States to continue
for many more months with only
one KH-type satellite, or perhaps
for a short time with no such sat-
ellites at all.
The Air Force once had KH-8
and KH-9 satellites in orbit, which
were similar to the more modern
KH-11 and KH-12. However. ac-
cording to analysts In the intelli-
gence community, they were re-
tired some time ago.
The Air Fora, NASA and the
CIA officially had no comment.
since all information about spy
satellites, aside from the fact that
they exist, is classified.
Even without the KH-11 and
KH-12, the United States would
still be able to intercept electronic
and communications signals
transmitted by the USSR, and it
could take pictures with much
less detail. However, analysts say
the absence of sharp visual data
could increase uncertainties in es-
timates of what the Soviets are up
to and whether they are comply-
ing fully with arms control trea-
ties. Delays in the shuttle will also
cause scheduling problems - but
probably little more than that -
with the Strategic Defense Initia-
tive, also known as the "star
wars" space-based missile-defense
program.
In June or July this year, the
shuttle was to have put into orbit
a satellite called Teal Ruby, which
is designed to track from outer
space the flight paths of strategic
bombers. Like the KH-12, it can be
carried into space only by the
shuttle.
However, said John Pike of the
Federation of American Scien-
tists, a critic of the SDI program,
"Teal Ruby's already been delayed
by two or three years, so delaying
it some more isn't going to hurt
anything."
Paul Stares, a space-weapons
analyst at the Brookings institu-
tion, said the next several shuttle
missions will probably involve
smaller-scale SDI experiments as
well, which tend not to be an-
nounced ahead of time. Last year,
for example. a laser beam in Ha-
waii was bounced off a mirror
placed on the surface of a shuttle
orbiter as it traveled through
space.
Stares said an Infrared (heat-
seeking) telescope, which has SDI
applications, was also scheduled
to be lofted into orbit by a shuttle
this year.
There are other military satel-
lites, having nothing to do with
SDI. that NASA was planning to
carry Into space onboard the shut-
tle this year. Those Include two
DSCS 3 communications satel-
lites, which provide links allowing
the president to speak to field
commanders In wartime: two Nav-
Star satellites, designed to im-
prove the accuracy of weapons
ranging from ballistic missiles to
artillery shells. and two British
Skynet communications satellites.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403270009-0