IRAN GOT DEVICES TO RECEIVE SIGNALS FROM US SATELLITE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402980002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 19, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000402980002-0
19 March 1987
ON PAGE _ BOSTON GLOBE
Iran got devices to receive
signals from US satellite
By Mark Hosenball
Special to The Globe
WASHINGTON - Without the
Defense Department's consent.
the Commerce Department last
year permitted the export to Iran
of equipment capable of receiving
signals from an American satellite
which takes electronic pictures of
the earth.
The Commerce Department
says it allowed the equipment to
be shipped because the technology
is relatively old and the pictures it
is capable of receiving are relative-
ly Indistinct.
But Pentagon and US intelli-
gence sources claim that thIran-
ians could use other computers to
enhance the images from the
American satellite and use them
to spy not only on the Iraqis but
also on deployments by the United
States and Its allies in the Middle
East.
The latest disclosures are cer-
tain to add fuel to a bitter dispute
between the Defense and Com-
merce departments over sales of
American computer equipment to
Iran. Last week. The Globe report-
ed that senior officials of the two
departments had argued about a
Commerce Department decision to
permit the export of several Digi-
tal Equipment Corp. computers to
Iran for use in civilian enterprises.
Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) on
Tuesday sent a letter to Frank
Carlucci. White House national se-
curity adviser. questioning the
Digital decision. Kemp also assert-
ed that it would be ''extremely
shortsighted" for the administra-
tion to exclude the Defense De-
partment from such export con-
e trol decisions.
The receiving equipment sent
to Iran last year is designed tc
pick up and decipher signals from
a satellite called LANDSAT which
was launched by the US govern-
ment in the 1970s to provide elec-
tronic pictures of the earth for
such nonmilitary uses as map-
ping. crop planting and locating
mineral and oil deposits. Since
last year. a private company
called Earth Observation Satellite
Company (EOSAT). owned jointly
by General Electric and General
Motors. has operated the satellite
under contract to the US govern-
ment.
The operators of LANDSAT are
obliged by American law to sell
pictures taken by satellite to any-
one who can pay for them, includ-
ing buyers from communist coun-
tries or hostile nations like Iran.
However, equipment enabling
countries to receive LANDSAT pic-
tures directly from the satellite
can only be exported from the Uni-
ted States with an export license
from the Commerce Department.
The Defense Department and
the CIA in the past have ocked
export licenses for the shipment of
such equipment to communist
bloc destinations. However. the
Pentagon has no power to block
the shipment of such equipment
to noncommunist countries like
Iran unless it can prove the equip-
ment is likely to be illegally divert-
ed to the Soviet bloc.
According to Debbie Williams.
a spokeswoman for EOSAT, the
Iranian government under the
shah contracted with General
Electric to buy its own LANDSAT
ground receiving station. But after
the shah was deposed by Ayatol-
lah Khomeini. the Iranians sus-
pended payments on the equip-
ment and General Electric decided
not to ship it. she said.
In late 1985. however, the Iran-
ians. through an international tri-
bunal in The Hague. Holland.
which was set up to settle finan-
cial claims which arose between
the United States and Iran during
the 1980-81 Tehran hostage crisis,
expressed an interest in complet-
ing their payments on the receiv-
ing equipment and taking delivery
of it. Williams said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000402980002-0