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MEMORANDUM FOR MR. HELMS

SUBJECT: Discussion of "Spy Satellite" Programs

I have learned that at the meeting of the North •

Atlantic Council of Ministers on February 24, which was

attended by members of our. SALT Delegation, Mr. Brosio, -

the Secretary General, verbally raised an issue on the

possible Soviet destruction of one of our "spy satellites."

Apparently, Mr. Brosio had formulated his concern based,

upon an article appearing in the French press. General

Royal Allison quite properly responded to Mr. Brosio that

he had no information on the subject and . the issue apparently

was. then dropped. • n •

In view of this_bccurrefte, I feel that it would be

advisable for CIA again to caution the cleated people

involved with NATO and SALT against becoming involved in

open' discussions of oor reconnaissance satellite program.

I fee • that this should be accomplished prior to SALT IV

since the topics of national means of verification and

non-interference with national means are . key elements in

the formal and informal closed discussions.

I would appreciate being informed of the action taken

on the matter.

•

F. Robert Mika .

Deputy DirectOr..:,.

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7rNATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

WASHINGTON. D.C.

February 24, 1971

MEMORANDUM FOR COLONEL SWEENEY

DR. NARA..

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SUBJECT: Question Raised at NATO Meeting on Soviet

Anti-Satellite Capability

Yesterday, February 24, several members of the U. S.

SALT delegation traveled to Brussels to brief the NATO

Council of Ministers on the progress of the SALT talks

and of the prospects for the imminent Vienna round.

This morning, Captain Kruzel from ACSAN, who went

to the Brussels meeting with General Allison, called

and asked me to look at a paper which was obtained at the

meeting. A copy of the paper is attached. Mr. Brosio,

the NATO Secretary General, passed this paper to Ambassador

Ellsworth on February 22 and then verbally raised the

issue in the meeting on February 24. There was concern

at the ministerial level that a specific non-interference

with national means clause may not be incorporated in an

eventual SALTagreement.

The basic conclusion raised in the paper was

apparently derived from reports in the French press.

Mr. Gerard Smith, a SALT negotiator, deferred comment

on the issue to General Allison who responded that he

had no information on the subject.

Today General Allison was asking for clarification

on the validity of the paper. He is to receive a briefing

from DIA on the COSMOS 373, 374 and 375 episode. I told

Captain Kruzel that the issue is valid but that there were

several errors in the paper. Specifically regarding

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Item 2), 2), we have no information that one of our satellites

has been subject to interference by the Soviets. It may

be likely that the French press was misconstruing the

operational difficulties of 647 and concluded that

the Soviets had interferred with the satellite.

I mentioned to Captain Kruzel that there seemed

to be a more important issue raised by the paper--that

being the questioning of aspects of the U. S. "spy

satellite program" in an international forum. I

requested Captain Kruzel to impress upon General Allison

the fact that the U. S. government does not openly discuss

the "fact of" satellite reconnaissance. That this paper

was passed to the Council of Ministers prior to yesterday's

meeting is even more disturbing.

RECOMMENDATION: We feel that the CIA should attempt to

reapprise representatives of the State Department

associated with NATO and SALT of the current policy

regarding discussion of satellite reconnaissance. To

the right is a memorandum for Dr. Naka's signature to

be sent to Mr. Helms requesting that action be taken to

caution the appropriate individuals against participating

in any open discussion of our program. Request that

Dr. Naka sign the memorandum.

HAROLD S. 0

Major, USAF

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During the past few days it has been reported in the

Press that the Uhite House and the CIA are worried about the

series of discoveries made by NASA which have led the

American authorities to conclude that the Soviets have for

some time possessed a new anti—satellite weapon. The f4ets A

which have led to this conclusion are as follows: • •

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1) In October 1970 the Soviets iimultansousli‘plac,Othree4

Cosmos satellites, bearing respectively nod. 373; 374 and 345 "

in orbit. The progress of these machines was followed by '

NASA technicians on their radar screen. Cosmos 374 and 375

exploded suddenly in a spiral of smoke.

. •

2) More recently, dust a few weeks ago in fact, US

specialists found to their astonishment that one of their

spy satellites, responsible for an important mission, had bow

destroyed in the same way as the two Soviet satellites had

been in October 1970, as described above. They conclude that

the Soviets have succeeded in perfecting a weapon system base.

on the use of lass.- ray capable of disintegrating any enemy;

satellite, and the'.. the experiment which they viewed last

October was in fact a test during which the real mission of

osmos 3y.lras to destroy Cosmos 374 and Cosmos 375.

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