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-10-NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

WASHINGTON. D.C. .

THE NRO STAF F

MEMORANDUM FOR MR. PLUMMER

SUBJECT: BYEMAN/TALENT-KEYHOLE Compartmentation

DIA is conducting, on behalf of the JCS, a study of

compartmentation of satellite reconnaissance information.

The objective is to recommend deccapamtmentation of TK

information, apparently on a large scale.

The recommendations for decompartmentation will be

sent to the Secretary of Defense, with a request that he

endorse them and send, them to the DCI for action, under

his responsibility for the protection of intelligence

sources and methods.

I am concerned that the recommendations resulting

from this study will include decompartmenting technical

or operational information which has been released from

BYEMAN into TK channels to assist in the analysis. of the

overhead reconnaissance product: This kind of information is not needed by intelligence consumers and should

not be disseminated without adequate control.

At the right is a memo from you to the Secretary of

Defense requesting consultation on any recommendation

issuing from the JCS study before it is sent to the. DCI

for action. The objective is to ensure that you have the

opportunity to recommend appropriate protection for information impacting upon NRO activities prior to any action

to decompartment it.

/-

HAROLD P. WHEELER, JR.

Colonel, USAF

Director

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-MI-NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

WASHINGTON. D.C.

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

SUBJECT: Compartmentation of Overhead Reconnaissance Products

A study of the compartmentation of overhead reconnaissance

product is being conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency

and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is anticipated that the

study will result in a recommendation to decompartment information currently protected in TALENT-KEYHOLE channels. This

recommendation would be forwarded to you for endorsement and

presentation to the Director of Central Intelligence for action.

In view of your recent strong expression of concern for

security within the Department of Defense, I wish to point out

that any substantial change in security handling of overhead

reconnaissance product is of vital concern to me. In fact,

considerable operational information about NRO programs has

been placed under TK compartmentation to facilitate technical

analysis of satellite product.

Because decompartmentation of such information would, in

my opinion, pose a serious risk to NRO program security, I

request that the NRO be given the opportunity to review and

comment upon any recommendation to decompartment TALENT-KEYHOLE

information prior to your endorsement to the DCI. This consul

tation would permit the NRO to identify information categories

which would be unnecessarily given broader exposure and recommend alternative means of protection, such as returning them to

the BYEMAN compartment.

J. W. Plummer

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