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Approved for Release: 2022/02/1 0 C05134203 

l'BP SEBRET 

J,il'(.NATIONAL. RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D.C, 

, .. ,:. -'/ , . .L-:,_,_J 

(J.' I ALENf°i{E°YHOLE : 

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" MEMORANDUM FOR MR, HELMS "' "' "' , SUBJECT: Discussion of 11Spy Satellit;e 11 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 

poss,ible Soviet destruction of one of our "spy satellites. 11 

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 infonnation on the subject and the issue apparently 

was then .dropped. ' 

In view of this.-Occurrehce, I feel that it would be 

advisabie for CIA again to caution the cleared people 

involved with NATO and.SALT against becoming involved in 

open 'discussions of <;>:Ur reconnaiss'ance satellite program. 

I f<cel that this should be accomplished prior to SALT IV 

sine~ the topics of national means of verificatiqn and 

non-tnterference 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. Rob.ert Naka 

Deruty DirectOr ... 

. . 

CO-lAOCWO TCS-3 7566-71 

ALENT-KEYHOLE "F9P SESRET .,.c,uo,0 •·•o" .,,c"""c 1<£o•A•••~ 000 o,R£CW'l ll~O 'O 00,. ~0? •IPj Y , ' / (! ;- Io .. c,~v . .'i- _________ Approved for Reiec:a::c,ecc,cc2"0"'22"10"'2"11,-;o,-c""o"5""1"'34"'2"'0"3--..,.-------''""";...,...,.;;.......;_.....;'--
Approved for Release: 2022/02/1 0 C05134203 

TBP SEeRET 

_,l,il1""NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

February 24, 1971 

MEMORANDUM FOR COLONEL SWEENEY 

DR. NAKA ~\ 

SUBJECT: Question Raised at NATO Meeting on Soviet 

Anti-Satellite Capability 

TAl::]~T-KEYl-lOLE 

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 

~nd asked me to look at a paper which was obtained at the 

meeting. A copy of the paper is attached. }rr. 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 

.ENT-KEYHOLE fBP SEBRET ,XCLUOEO >ROM AUTO~•r.c ocoeAOING 

000 "'"''""' '200 ,o ao,s NOfUPcY 

Approved for Release: 2022/02/1 0 C05134203 

Internal CONf,OL NO>_:====-,.), 
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ftl!' !':iEtlilll TAlE11T-KEYHOLE 

Item 2), we have no informati.on 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 program11 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 11 fact 0£11 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 ClA should attempt to 

reapprise representatives of the State Department 

associated with NATO and SALT of the current policy 

regarding discussion of satellite reconnaissance. To 

cne r~ght is a memorandum for Dr. Naka 1 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. 

LENT-KEYHOLE 

~ l.- c... 

HAROLD S .10YLE, 

Major, USAF 

'f8P SE6RET oc,eo,o FOOM •u•OM<flC O(Gaao,Nt 

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Approved for Release: 2022/02/1 0 C05134203 

JR. 
Approved for Release: 2022/02/1 0 C05134203 

· Perfectj.on of a ~yE .. tcm -for the: destruct~vn of .snv s2:t.ell.i. tes 

During the pas·.: fe-1•1 days it has been reported in the 

Press that the White House &nd the CIA are worried about the 

series of discoveries r.1EJ.de by NP.SA which have led the 

American authorities 'to conclude that the Soviets have for 

!i, some time possessed a new· anti-satellite weapon. The f,~cts (\' 

which have led to this conclusion are as follows: ,·,. t. __ ,,,. 0' ✓ -·:·• ,,f . -- I Ir._, 

1 ) ln October 1970 the Soviets Simults.n.eously'.place;i' thr,~e' '· . ------- / ,. 1/ 

Cosmos satelli t0s, bearing respecti v€ly nos:· 3T5, 3711 and 375, 

in orbit* The progress of these r:iachines v1as follm·.red. by 

NASA technicians on their radar screen. Cqsmos 374 and 375 

exploded suddenly in a 9piral of smoke. 

2} More recently, just a fei•,r ,,,reeks ago in _fact, US 

Specialists found to their astonishment that one of their 

spy satellites, responsible for a::-1 important mission, he..d been 

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 systeo based 

on the use of lasc.t· ray capable of disintegrating a.ny enemy:-: 

satellite, and th2·\_ the experiment which they viewed last 

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

.,_.......---........ 

~-smos 3j!3) was to destroy Cosmos 3Jtit and Cosmos 375. ~:\'" l I 

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Approved for Release: 2022/02/1 0 C05134203