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NRP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Minutes, at, Meeting Held 6 October 1965 

Room 3E 928, '!'he Pentagon 

Members Present 

Mr. :Cyrus R. Vance Deputy Secretar.y of Defense . Admiral William· F. Raborn 

Dr ~ 'Donald F. Hornig' . , 

Dr. Alexander H. Flax' 

Director ot Central Intelligence 

Special Assistant to the President 

tor Science and Technolol7 

Director, National Reconnaissance 

'Ottice,. Ex Officio' . ' 

Secretar.y, HRP Execut1ve.ea..1ttee, . Ex Officio' 

Mr • James Q. Reber 

Others Present 

Mr. R. Helma, ,DDCI Mr. II. Sheldon, CIA. 

Mr. ,J. 'Crowley, CIA 

Mr. L. Dirks~ CIA. 

Colonel D. Carter, NRO Staff 

Dr. D. steininger, 'PBAO 

Dr., L. Lauderdale,' ,CIA. 

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1. Briefings. The Executive Committee was presented with ' 

a short review ot the three eUler. systems under stud7 tor the. ' 

satellite photographics;;rch function and· their. contract atatuse. 

a. Mr. Dirks briefed on the Perkin-Elmer propc;aal. 

This contraCtor had been studJing tWo systems but, on'_ 

their recommendation, was ~ow 'assigned to pursue only' 

the system briefed at this meeting. They plan' to have 

a proposal available by 15 November 1965. 

b. Colonel Carter briefed on the, Eastman Kodak 

and lTEK cameras, indicating that tbe g camera contract was being' terminated and the' camera design transterred to !TEl for turther study. He indicated that 

the ITEIC contract will run through 31 December 1965 

with an engineering model scheduled tor 26 March 1966 • 

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Reference was made in 'the discussion to an· NPIC study . 

on the tall-oft of .QU8lit1 in .the extremities ot 

obliquity. This 8tu~ will be made available to the 

. members. 

~ • N ext Actions. Dr. Flax described his plan to' establish 

, a technical task group to be composed ot representatives of the 

OIA and SAFSPunder ohairmanship ot the IRO to prepare a ,state. 

ment of system Qperational requirements, to recommend the selection 

of a system configuration, to formulate pla'ns for contractor selection, and to. recommend a program plan including a schedule • This 

group will first be asked to assess the effort and·time required 

to complete its tasks; the anticipated dates, for completion of 

the task group activities Will be made available to the ExCom within 

the next' few weeks. He indicated that the instructions to'the 

· technic'al task force wou!l.d have to take into -account the .fact that 

the studies and developmental work on the three camera concepts 

are in different, stages. He also indicated that the group would 

be guided in its camera and contractor sEllection by instructions 

from the.D/MRO. . 

3. Dr. Flax indicated that he planned also to establish a 

task group to ,define the project lnanagement struct~e. '!'he terms 

of reference for this group, participants, and due date would 

. likewise be available to the ExCom within two weeks. 

4. ExCom Action. ' The Committee concurred in the actions, 

indicated by. Dr. Flax in paragraphs 2 and 3 above. 

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6. N ext Actions. Dr. Flax stated that he planned the 

following acti~ns& 

a. A technical evaluation by an independent 

ro.o.,"' ...... ty and the ~aJll&b:Lllties • He. 

most critical. 

There was a discussion on the need for ~d practica- . bility o~ separate: evaluations of the p~load and 

the spacecraft. It was agreed that the evaluation . should concentrate on the 

an 

of other. elements of the system . as necessary. It was also agreed that the degree ot 

detailed review of various elements of the system . should be determined by the technical panel in view· 

of their own assessments of the significant technical problems of the system. In this connec~ion, 

there was discussion as to whether the group to conduct the technical eValuation should. be a PSAC 

instrument, such as the Land Panel, or a pan.el appointed 

by the D/NRO. Dr. Flax indicated that he had no . objection if the PSAC wished to conduct a review tor 

its own purposes. However, he felt that· it should 

be· part of his management responsibillty·to establish or conduct those reviews necessar,y to program 

recommendations and dec1siona Dr.-Hornig concurred 

that it should be a part of the management process . and structure although in due course PSAC will no 

doubt ha~e some review function. 

b. Dr. Flax noted· that the agreement on the NRP 

indicated that, as new programs c.ame along, available 

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DoD assets ~hou1d be employed. Thus -he felt that 

there should be an opportunity for Air Faroe 

familiarization with the spaceoraft in order that, 

if the Air Force is assigned that function und~r 

the management plan, no time ~ou1d be lost in 

becoming familiar later. He indicated that he did 

not oonsider that such famili~ization should preju--

dioe the management deoision. Mr. Vance and 

Admiral-Raborn agreed that, although ·the referenced 

aspeot ot the Agreement was a general guide, eaoh 

case should be examined on merit and an exception 

was not ruled out by the language in the Agreeaent. - -

c. Dr. Flax ~nd1cated that he believed 8J.l 

parties were in agreement that a cost-effeotivenes8 

study should be made. - _ He said he -had been advised 

that the original propos&J. for COJ()R to make this -

study would be infeasible within the desired time 

period. _ Accordingly, he proPosed that he appoint a 

small task force acoept~ble to eIAto complete the 

study by 15 November 1965. -This study wo~d oonsist I I' ; •• • 

d. Dr.. Flax also stated that he planned to set 

up a task grOup and recOJIIIl8nd management 

arrangements 

1. Exdom Act1on.~he Executive Committee concurred. in the 

actions proposed in paragraph 6 above. . 

Addendum trom the D/RRO 

- 8. We have previously advised USIB and COHlR that -f'our 

GAMBrr missions, in addition to the one scheduled. in September, 

could be conducted by 1 JanWU"y' 1967~ Special inspections ot 

mission critioai oomponents and subsequent spaoecraft testingto assure flight readiness have red.uo-ed the nUmber of possible 

missions in this- :fi1me period to two I -in addition to the 

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September one just successfully completed •. These missions are 

scheduled tor early November and early December. The other two 

spacecraft will be available during the first quarte.r ot ·ct 1966 

in addition to those now scheduled during that time. 

Copy 1 Mr •. Vance 

2-4 Adm. Raborn 

,: 5 Dr. Hornig 

6~7 . Dr.' Flax. 

8-10 Mr. Reber 

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~ /" ames Q. Reber . . , I) Secretar.y . 

Executive Committee 

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