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Of"FICE OF THE DiRECTOR December 29, 1967 

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MEXORANDUM FOR THE DEPUTY SECRE.TARY OF DEFENSE 

SUBJECT: BOB Proposal for Study of GAMBIT III 

Launch Schedule 

The BOB proposal for a gAMBIT III launch schedule 

study, which I discussed (on the basis of a draft) with 

you and Mr. Fisher of the Bureau of the Budget on 

December 19, 1967, and which was sent in final form to 

the, Secretary of Defense on December 21, 1967, prompts 

the following comments: 

1) There is no need for additional study with 

respect to any NRO function i.e., the number of launches 

'required to meet a given statement of intelligence 

requirements, or the costs, schedules and capabilities 

as, related to alternative statements of require'ments. 

I make this point because subsequent to our discussion of 

December 19, Mr. Fisher is reported by both Mr. John Bross 

of the CIA and Mr~ Don Steininger of Dr. Hornig's office 

to have quoted me as stating that I had neither the time 

nor the staff to perform the necessary NRO studies related 

to GAMBIT launch vehicle schedules. You will recall that 

my statements related entirely to the analytical r~view of 

requirements for which I do not have the responsibllityy 

nor correspondingly the time and staff. 

2) The validation of requirements is currently a 

USIB responsibility. Under the charter of the NRO, we 

are bound to honor (within the limitations imposed by 

budget and EXCOM direction) USIB statements of requirements. 

However, we can and do exchange data with COMIREX and 

USIB on the NRO collection cost implications of alternative 

requirement statements~ 

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3) Since the Gl'u"1BIT III study proposed by the BOB, 

as I understood it, related primarily to the statement of 

requirements for high resolution satellite coverage, I 

pointed out that this is primarily a matter for the USIB 

and not for the NRO per see I understand from John Bross 

that the BOB memorandum to the Secretary of Defense was not 

properly coordinated with Mr. Helm's office prior to its 

transmittal,' although the copy sent to Mr. Helms by 

Mr. Schultze indicates the latter's belief that it was so 

coordinated. 

4) The proposed study appears to be a one shot random 

effort to resolve the problem of requirements formulation. 

The question of GAMBIT launch schedules arose in the first 

place because Mr. Fisher was under the erroneous impression 

that in calculating launch schedules, the NRO did not take 

into account the GAMBIT vehicle improvements beyond vehicle 

No. 23, in spite of repeated explanations to the contrary 

in the month preceding the EXCOM budget meeting. 

5) The recognition that there was a requirements 

definition problem with respect to high resolution 

satellite photography came over a year ago. The principal 

adversaries are CIA and DIA, with DIA heavily on the side 

of wore coverage. The present schedule was arrived at 

as a compromise schedule by the USIB chairman, Mr. Helms, 

about a year ago. Subsequent studies have been under way 

to attempt to better define and validate these requirements. 

The latest results of these COMIREX and liSIB deliberations 

were expected in December. However, this USIB action has 

now been delayed into mid-January. 

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6) I doubt very much that the proposed BOB study is a 

practical solution to the overall problem of requirements 

definition and validation. The target lists for intelligence 

collection, the degree of urgency attached to certain. 

coverage, and such collection program factors as the degree 

of confidence in the HEXAGON first launch date will vary with 

time. It is impractical to expect that a one-time study 

of the kind proposed by the BOB will resolve the continuing 

problemo 

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7) If there is a general feeling that more adequate 

analysis of requirements should be undertaken, it appears 

to me that there are two levels at which this could be 

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done and probably the problem should be attacked at both 

levels. Within the DOD, intelligence collection requirements 

are processed through the DIA to the USIB. The DOD could 

inject at this stage some method of assigning not only a 

priority but a value to each major requirement. Second, 

at th~ USIB level a collation and integration of the 

requirements and related values submitted by the participating 

agencies could be undertaken. 

8) At the present time, there is no group other than 

the EXCOM at which the senior managements of the DOD and 

the CIA (the principal u~;r 13 P;):::LL~,:tpants in both generation 

of requirements and intelli?;0ncc' collection) formally meet 

to reviehT resource require·nonl:.; resulti.ng from intelligence 

co::..lec tion requirements. This 'Le;cds the BOB to inj ec t 

requirements issues into :<12 ?' .Ot: ';·Jhich are not primarily 

the concern of the NRO, :2(':: w:".).e [,ldnagement t~e EXCOM 

presumably exists. 

In light of the above factors, I recommend that you 

(after consultation with Mr. Helms) reply to the BOB 

memorandum by indicating that requirement studies such 

as the one proposed are properly the function of the USIB 

as the senior coordinating and validating agency for 

intelligence collection requirements, and that the m'ember 

agencies of USIB (including the DOD) have a similar 

unilateral responsibility for requirements submitted by 

them for USIB review and validation. As indicated in 

Nr. Schultze's letter, a review of the GAMBIT III launch 

requirement is currently in process by the USIB and 

certainly no action specifically with respect to GAMBIT 

requirements ought to be taken prior to completion of 

that review Q More generally, the DOD plans to take action 

to establish improved methods of evaluating its intelligence 

collection requirements and relating them to the probable 

value. At the same time the DOD will work with the DCI 

to establish the necessary mechanisms for introducing 

such factors into COMIREX and USIB requirements reviews. 

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Further, there has been in process between Dr. Flax and 

?-lr. Helms, for several months now, planning for 

coordinating the schedules of USIB requirements reviews 

with NRO budget submittal and contract action dates so 

that timely information may be made available to all 

management levels concerned. The mechanism for this 

coordination has nmv been agreed on and will be in 

operation shortlyo 

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