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NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

August 17, 1971

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THE NRO STAFF

WASHINGTON. D.C.

MEMORANDUM FOR DR. McLUCAS

SUBJECT: Visit to Mr. Herb Reis, U.N. Delegation

To the right is a brief summary of a meeting with

Mr. Herb Reis, U.S. U.N., on August 16 which was concerned

with proceedings of the Committee on Peaceful Uses of

Outer Space. Lt. Colonel Hofmann•and Major Coyle from the

Staff visited Mr. Reis. This memorandum is for your

information only.

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NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

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THE NRO STAFF August 17, 1971

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: Visit to Mr. Herb Reis, U.N. Delegation

Lt Colonel Majozipilivisited Mr. Herb

Reis, Counsel to tie . . Ambassa Delegate to the

Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, at the U.N.

Mission on August 16. The purpose of the visit was to

discuss the implications of current U.N. Outer Space

Committee activities on our ability to continue overflights in a permissive environment.

After many years of deliberation, the Liability

Convention is being finalized for submission to the

General Assembly. As a result the Committee will have

a great deal of surplus energy to direct toward several

other issues. These issues are concerned with definition

of a boundary of outer space, legal and ethical parameters

of earth resource satellites, and identification and marking

of spacecraft.

Mr. Reis informed us that the Liability Convention

will be finalized in the Outer Space Committee in September.

Both the Legal and Scientific and Technical Subcommittees

have been working on such a convention since 1964. The

General Assembly will receive the convention in October.

Despite initial desires by the smaller countries, the

convention, although arbitration is binding, does not

require that a country be forced to settlement of a claim

submitted by the injured country upon which space debris

has fallen. Mr. Reis did not feel that there would be any

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pressures for explanations beyond a statement of origin

data of liable spacecraft pieces.

With regard to the future proceedings of the Outer

Space Committee and its subcommittees, Mr. Reis informed

us that the Soviets have requested an informal bilateral

discussion prior to the convening of the Outer Space

Committee in September in order to discuss "priorities"

of future activities. The Soviets have submitted a draft

Moon Treaty proposal. This proposed treaty is almost an

exact duplicate of the existing International Space Treaty

except that it provides for dissemination of physical

material returned from space such as moon rocks to the

world scientific community. Our U.N. Mission does not

want to make an issue of the apparent redundancy since

it is suspected that the Soviets have submitted the proposed

treaty in order to occupy the time of the. Committee as a

whole.

Mr. Reis did not feel that there is any immediate

concern with regard to pressures to arrive at a definition

of outer space. He felt that once ERTS-A is flown, there

might be moves by third countries for formal discussion.

Some time following the ERTS-A mission, there is an

Ad Hoc Committee meeting scheduled late next year to

arrive at general legal and ethical parameters of earth

resource surveys. Mr. Reis felt that this would be a very

general effort and that the main unknown at this time is

whether the Peoples Republic of China will be admitted

to the U.N. and whether it will be given membership to the

Outer Space Committee. In this event, China would be in a

position to formally object to overflights by satellite.

Also under study at this time is the possibility of

identification and marking of spacecraft. We gathered that

Mr. Reis would like to see some means available in the

future to enable conclusive identification of spacecraft

pieces. We held an open ended discussion on this matter

stating some concerns associated with stamping, impregnating

or otherwise marking spacecraft components.

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In summary, the dialogue was very beneficial and

Mr. Reis appeared to be extremely supportive of the continuation of the present permissive environment. The two

major points of interest were first, the desire on the

part of the Soviets to continue the policy of "gentle

obstructionism" and the apparent desire of the U.S. to

go along with this policy; an4 second, the potential

impact of admission of the Peoples Republic of China to

the U.N. Mr. Reis expressed a desire to visit us to

discuss further the military uses of space since we were

constrained by physical security in discussing TIC matters

in his office. Both Mt. Reis and Ambassador Bush apparently

remain close to the current intelligence status through

frequent briefings at the Mission. No immediate action

items were generated from the meeting.

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