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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

. WASHINGTON

OFFICE OF MC MOIR SOCIMITARY

December 11, 1963

MEMOILNNDUM FOR RECORD

This records conversation with Mr. McCone at his office

on Tuesday, December 10

After reading my proposed draft directive on consolidation

of CORONA management, Mr. McCone said, "This is the same paper

you presented before. You want to take the whole project over."

He then went on to say that he had looked into the history

of this project and that he was convinced that had it not been

for CIA influence this country would still today be without

pictures of the Soviet Union. He illustrated the importance

of these pictures by citing his recent 1223Viab of the NIE

for the National Security Council. He stated that he would not

stand for submersion of this project into the bureaucracy of

the Air Force and that he would liquidate the NRO if necessary

to prevent this. He spoke of the necessity to keep the

imagination, inventiveness, enthusiasm and flexibility of the

CIA organization at work on this project in order to insure

its success.

I pointed out to him that at the present time none of the

CIA people that originally worked on the CORONA project were

contributing effectively to it, noting tha ent one

contracting officer at Langley administ worth

of contracts out of a total approaching that

this contracting officer takes technical only from

the Configuration Control Board and that the CIA has two members

on this CCB. Mr. McCone then stated that he would consider

the paper further.

He asked about TAGBOARD, and I reported that I had asked

Colonel Geary to prepare for me a complete review of the program

and its expected costs and stated that I felt that we might

come to a decision to terminate soon.
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He asked what we were doing to achieve higher resolution

in our satellite photo d I reported briefly on the

Latest reports from th oject. .He expressed great

interest and stated t ht it was important to pursue

this kind of objective.

He asked what the possibilities were for a new general

search system. I described the history of the E-6 system

and what I knew of the proposed M-2 system. I explained the

"political" factors that will be felt in making any decision

in this area and stated as my present judgment, not held with

great confidence, that the quickest way to get an improved

general search system would be to revive E-6 with improvements,

and that I thought that this had a greater potential than the

M-2 proposal. I noted, however, that the present committee

studying the resolution of the CORONA system might come to a

more definitive conelusion about the possibility of making

improvements along the same technical lines.

As the meeting closed, Mr. McCone stated he would let me

have his decision on the CORONA matter within a few days.

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