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THE NRO STAFF June 4, 1968 

MEMORANDUM FOR DR. FLAX 

SUBJECT: Working Arrangements with General Smart's Office 

PROBLEM: 

To advise you of recent events in developing closer liaison 

and better working arrangements with General Smart's office in 

NASA. 

BACKGROUND: 

Since arriving at NASA, as Admiral Boone's replacement, 

General Smart has spent a great deal of time and energy in an 

effort to build more understanding between NASA and the DOD, 

particularly in the area of earth-t~H~g. His office, now 

called the Office of DOD and Interagency Affairs, has been 

expanded in scope and strength to reflect this emphasis. He 

is convinced that NASA must move resolutely toward an earth .... 

sensing program; however, he believes that resolution must be 

governed by a clear knowledge of what is possible and proper 

in the light of national security and international relationships. 

Recently, he has met with General Berg to disclose the 

work he is doing with NASA's leaders to increase awareness of, 

and sensitivity to, the NRP security environment. He left 

several proposed memoranda with us as evidence of typical 

actions which he believed could and should be taken by NASA 

within NASA. He also asked that Myron Krueger--his primary 

staff officer for these matters--be permitted to work with me 

in exploring other possibilities. 

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PRESENT STATUS: 

Myron and I have met twice and have prepared a list of 

proposed actions for further discussion. I believe most of 

these proposals serve the interests of both organizations and 

should be developed further, except as noted in one case. 

1. TOP SECRET NASA In-House Statement on Earth-Sensing 

Activities. General Smart looks on this paper as the fundamental document to a new "disciplinary environment" (his words) 

which he hopes to develop in NASA. The Statement has been prepared, coordinated by the DOD members of the MSFPC, and is 

ready for release. In an effort to avoid the:'Very complicated 

process of coordinating a paraphrase of the July 11, 1966 report 

of the NSAM 156 Ad Hoc Committee, Gene ral Smart used guidelines 

stricter than those in the NSAM, such as (1) resolutions more 

gross than 100 feet from 100 miles, (2) no radars, and (3) no 

lasers. It will be interesting to see if NASA can really live 

with this policy, for it will have rather drastic implications 

for everyone of their in-house study or contract work statement s 

covering earth-sensing. This TOP SECRET statement is to be 

shown to about 25 top-level NASA officials, in Washington and 

at the Centers. 

2. CONFIDENTIAL NASA In-House Statement on Earth-Sensing 

Activities. General Smart believes that NASA needs a paper, 

classified CONFIDENTIAL or lower, which can be distributed widely 

to carry a message of caution and restriction on NASA earthsensing activities. Myron and I are in amicable disagreement 

over the possibility of producing a releasable, useful paper at 

this security level. In the first place, I cannot invent a 

CONFIDENTIAL rationale for restricting NASA's program. Myron's 

first draft cited U. S. apprehension over possible international 

challenge to the legality of earth-sensing. This, of course, 

will not do in a CONFIDENTIAL report since (1) such apprehension, 

when expressed in the NASA context, is actually contrary to 

announced national policy and (2) if expressed, it calls for 

security protection at some level above TOP SECRET. Secondly, 

any CONFIDENTIAL release on this subject will appear verbatim 

in "Aviation Week." I think I can convince Myron to forget the 

CONFIDENTIAL paper and to stick to the idea of a small audience 

reading the TOP SECRET document. 

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3. A Personalized Security Briefing to Accompany the 

TOP SECRET In-House Statement. In the security business, reading 

a paper is not enough, just as reading a BYEMAN code-word indoctrination booklet is not enough. The 25 top-level NASA representatives need to have their personal questions answered. For 

example: 

a. What am I expected to do? 

b. How do I put this into effect in my organization? 

c. May I paraphrase this and tell my people? 

do What may I tell the press, when queried on 

restrictions? Ditto for Congress. 

e. To whom do I turn with problems? 

f. Etc, Etc. 

We are helping Myron prepare a question-and-answer booklet 

constructed along these lines. This booklet is to be used as 

a set of notes for personal conferences with the 25 top-level 

NASA employees. 

4. A Follow-Up Security Briefing after Six Months. 

Since NASA key personnel do no day-to-day work in the security 

area, we are recommending a refresher briefing. 

5. An Anticipatory "Control Clause" for Contract Work 

Statements and In-House Studies. Many security guide line problems 

associated with NASA contractual and in-house work could be 

avoided by anticipating those projects which will tend to stray 

toward reconnaissance-like sensors. A "control clause," reflecting 

the restrictions in NASA's TOP SECRET in-house statement, should 

be built intO} such activities right at the start. Such a phrase 

might read as follows, "In .£arryigg out this work the /contractor/ 

Lstudy tea~/ will confine Lhi~/ Lits7 consideration of earthsensors to those capable of producing resolutions more gross than 

100 feet from 100 run." 

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6. A DOD Policy Statement on NASA Satellite-Borne 

Astronomy Projects. NASA believes that the McMillan-Seamans 

guidelines inhibit its astronomy program, particularly the 

guideline on pointing accuracy. At its last meeting the MSFPC 

has assigned the NRO the task of producing a paper on this 

subject. We plan to have this paper ready for you in about a 

~ek; its thrust will be simple: (1) we are not particularly 

concerned over bona fide space-sensing astronomical experiments, 

(2) we recognize that good astronomy calls for good pointing, 

(3) we can protect the NRP and NRP-derived technology quite 

adequately by reviewing NASA's astronomy program in SACC, and 

(4) we really don't expect many problems. 

7. A NSAM to Control Earth-Sensing Activities of Other 

Governmental Agencies. NASA is sensitive to the fact that other 

governmental agencies, such as Interior, Commerce, and Agriculture are not controlled by a mandatory coordinating mechanism 

governing earth-sensing activities. As you recall, the July 11, 

1966 statement of the NSAM 156 Ad Hoc Committee urged the 

issuance of a NSAM which would make NASA "lead crew" for the 

earth seng~ng activities of non-defense/non-intelligence agencies. 

We joined ASD/ISA in making two proposals for such a NSAM but 

nothing happened, largely, we were told, because of resistance 

by the three departments to becoming "subservient" to NASA. I 

think we can help NASA to get another proposal assembled and on 

the way to the White House--perhaps to Dr. Hornig, this time. 

8. A BYEMAN Billet Structure for NASA. We are now 

working with Floyd Sweet to prepare a BYEMAN billet structure 

for all of NASA. This device has a positive stabilizing influence on DOD activities and we believe it will serve a similar 

purpose for NASA. 

9. Relieve the Pressure from the "User Community." 

NASA claims it is under constant pressure from the "user community" 

to produce photographs from satellites. Accepting this statement 

at face value, we believe that the pressure could be reduced 

significantly, and perhaps dramatically, by giving the "user 

community" photographs taken from aircraft. It is ironic that 

fue very pictures which the geologists, hydrologists, agronomists, 

oceanographers, foresters, urban planners and their associates 

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are hoping to have three years from now can be produced today, 

in color, black-and-white, or "multispectral" at very fine 

resolutions, relatively easily and inexpensively. Our U-2's 

and SR-71's fly regularly, making practice photographic runs 

over the U. S. With a little planning by a few experts, a portion 

of the U. S. could be covered in such a way as to amaze and 

delight the "user community" and to absorb its energies and 

enthusiasms for months and years to come. I believe this is the 

most positive step we can take to reduce tensions between the 

DOD and NASA in the field of earth-sensing. Kelly Johnson and 

some of his friends are so enthusiastic about what he calls a 

"conciliatory strategy" that he has helped assemble an inexpensive 

proposal in which LMSC plans a program with California state 

agencies (particularly those working on water control, forestry, 

agriculture, and air pollution), photographs the state with a 

U-2 (using the NRO's multispectral camera), and works with the 

agencies in learning how to interpret and use the results. 

Unfortunately, there are only two people in NASA who are 

interested in photos from aircraft: Myron Krueger and General 

Smart. This may be enough, if they are able to stimulate NASA 

to ask us to assist in conducting such a project. We would be 

serving our own interests directly, as well as indirectly, since 

such a project would fit reasonably well into the work Harry 

Woo is already doing for us in Multispectral Imaging. 

RECOMMENDATION: 

These comments are for information only. I will continue 

to report to you as we progress on these items. 

Q 7jy: paMort1:irii.an 

Colonel, USAF 

Deputy Director 

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