HANDLE VIA BYEr 

CONTROL SYSTEM. 

BYE #0138-67. 

NRO ARPRri/ED FOR 

RELEASt JUIN 2015 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 

WAS 25. D. C. 

OL-A -5 

POL-B-18 

RAR-B-10 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN • 

CONTROL SYSTEM ONLY 

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

19 September 1967 

The Honorable Alexander Flax. 

Director, National. Reconnaissande Office 

Department of DefenSe 

Washington, D.C. 

Dear Al: 

On 23 February 1967 you.forwarded to me a reportprePared 

by a group convened under your auspices to study and reCothMend 

security criteria for NRP:e4UipMent which might be madeaVail,... 

able to NASA.. - This report was undertaken in respense:to 

Recommendation #7 of the NSAM 156 Ad Hoc ComMittee'SrePOrto 

11 July 1966 and yOu will recall that I delayed taking action 

with respect to the report of your group because :Possible:: 

conflict with a proposed NASA.program to use a GAMBIT camera 

in earth orbit.: In light of yoUr letter:Of 22:AuguSt 

advising of NASA's actionto terminate this particularprOgram 

I hereby approve the findings,and recommendations:of the. 

report transmitted by your letter of 23 February_1967:andbe-,! 

lieve that this:report Should be used-as a basis for NRO. 

dealings with NASA.pn eciuipmentand technology. I am;s.rendi;i 

a copy of the report_:to:the-Chairman of the NSAM 156.:Ad 

Committee and to each.member... 

Sincerely, 

Richard H.elms 

Director 

„.. 

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of ,<(-..:--;----i it i i ) , 

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01,17 ri-n 1 1 

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11',,141 all 10i k 

NRO APly0YEIOR 

;RELEAS 1 JULY 2015 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 

WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN/TALENT/KEYHOLE 

CONTROL SYSTEMS JOINTLY 

n SEP 1967 

The Honorable Foy D.. Kohler: 

Deputy Under Secretary of State, 

Department of State 

Washington, D.C. 

Dear Foy: 

Recommendation #7- Of the NSAM 156 Ad Hoc Committee report 

of 11 July 1966 recommended that: "The Director of Central. :': 

Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the National 

Reconnaissance Office,'-should'review and establish appropriate 

security restrictions on cameras and other sensing apparatus, 

and equipment which can be made available for NASA's IprOgrain 

of non-military applications of satellite earth-sensing: It., 

is recognized that substantial Compai.tmentalization will 

probably have to remain, but the ton-tilitary programs shoUld: 

be enabled to profit from relevant achieVemett8 Of'Ythemilitary 

program to the extent feasible." In response to this recommendation a small .,.group of experts:Was convened by Dr. FlOcT -

and has completed a report containing findings and recommenda 

tions which I -have approved.: I a#Lattathing'-a copy Of this 

report and expect that it will be , used as a basis forNRO dea17. 

ings with NASA on equipment ana technology, in line with 

Recommendation #7 noted above.' 

Cordially, 

'Qs' Rialiarc~ Helras 

Richard Eelms 

Director 

Attachment: BYE #52042-67 

r?) 

cc: Dr. Seamans, NASA w/att, cy 1, Series B 

Mr. Warnke,, DOD Watt, cy 2, Series B 

Dr. Flax, NRO w/o att 

Mr. Fisher, ACDA Watt, cy 3, Series B 

Mr. Sheldon, CIA w/o att 

Mr. Keeny, White House Watt, cy 4, Series B 

Mr. Johnson, White House w/att, cy 5, Series B 

Mr. Welsh, NASC w/att, cy 6, Series B 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN/TALENT- BYE #0139-67 

KEYHOLE SYSTEMS JOINTLY OS7?,'71,7T,rgr,1 

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CONTROL 2.YSTLMS 401NTLY 

• -NIRO:APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE .1 JULY 2015 

• DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 

WASHINGTON 20330 

OFFICSOFTHCSCCRETARy. 25 .October.19671•

21111114404iini 

MEMORANDUM FOR DR. FLAX 

SUBJECT: Project ARGO 

Recently, while briefing various Dorian-cleared Army: 

representatives on MOL, the subject of Project ARGO arose 

(because of my prior involvement with the Army Engineers);:.,.. 

and I was offered a status report on its progress to date.. 

I visited Autometrics for that purpose on October 16. 

There follow some impressions from my rather brief exposure';', 

to this undertaking. 

As you probably know, a team of eleven scientist/ 

engineers from Commerce, Agriculture, Interior, - and AID 

(headed up by Mr. Cox'from AID) is conducting this analysis/. 

study. The effort got underway in July with an orientation 

course at NPIC Apparently, they started out to analyze a 

rather sizable area in central South America, quickly 

concluded that was too huge a task, and focused in on three 

- representative smalldr areas (near La Paz; in northeastern :... 

..Bolivia; and near Montevido). They have been working mostly:; 

with KH-5 and KH-4 material, supplemented by KH-7 and its 

index camera. I understood they will receive some material`'`: 

from the KH-8 and its index camera in the near future.- 

Most of the effort to date appears to have been spent: 

in PI-type orientation -- by NPIC, Autometrics, and.selfacquired -- and in preparing the basic foundations for their' 

analyses (i.e., detailed overlays of topography, water networks, meteorology patterns, transportation, population 

centers, etc.). Perhaps more analysis has been done to date 

than was my impression, as several scientist/engineers did 

give some good examples (re farmable land, water flow, etc:), 

of what can be learned from TK photography. In any event, 

the group as a whole now appears:to be. moving rapidly in . 

analysis procesi.Y .; 

HANOI-C VIA 

P.,YEMA;`,1•TALENT-1(EYHOLE::,: 

CONTROL SYSTEMS JOINTLY; 

"-,":0,7posr • -.• • • oo.; . , i■ • • r -,•.toks .4 P 1.1111..6 

Pages- pages " 

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• • . 

• . • . • 

Mr. Cox made an interesting observation in his introductory/background remarks. He pointed out that the group',. 

upon initial exposure to T&( material, had almost unlimited 

enthusiasm for its potential. Shortly thereafter, however, I 

upon closer examination, each individual's enthusiasm took , y 

a sharp nose-dive when he discovered that there was a great 

deal information which could not ba easily darivad from s. 

the material. Subsequently, there apparently has been a 

slow build-up in enthusiasm (and morale) as each person spent ,! 

more time analyzing. 

In an informal session with Mr. Cox and several others,. 

I cautioned them against becoming so involved in analyzing 

these three particularareas that they overlooked the main 

point, which my opinion -- was analyzing the usefulness 

of this material. In this regard, I suggested they also try 

to arrive at some resolution "plateau" which provides a 

useful baseline for all areas, and which could be supplemented by higher-resolution photography for particular areas. 

I also suggested they look at obliquity in this same respect.' 

One particular geographical area (I believe it was 

similar to a salt flat or dry lake bed) clearly indicated 

a need for color photography -- at least, in certain 

situations. This information had only been derived from the 

black and white photography because Mr. Cox had seen these 

areas during his AID tours in South America. 

I understand the next phase of their analyses involves 

test areas in the US and that various material (color, IR, 

etc.) will be available to the group. 

"I note that this group is made up strictly of Government . 

employees. It seems to me that at some future date the '. 

purely scientific (educational institution) and profit 

organization inputs should be obtained. In particular, with 

regard to the latter, someone from a large A&E organization 

(like Sverdup & Parcel who are world-wide and multi-functional, 

in nature), and perhaps also from one of the oil industry T— , 

I-3ANOLE; VIA 

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NRCAF'PRI9VED FOR 

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- • 

this point in time. 

"giants", should be cleared and given the task of analyzing 

the worth of this material from their viewpoints. 

/ have passed along the above and other comments to 1: • ' '," 

Dr. Steininger. No action on your part is recommended at ' 

[ra LP1 

HANDLE VIA. 

SYEIVIA iLJ N4ALEIIT-XZYHOLg 

CONTROL SYSTEMS ;40INTLY•• .' 

• • • •.• I' • . 

• • I 

IES—T. STEWART 

'j or General, 

Vice Director, 

Let,Z. 

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, , . • .•' , . - • . ..• 

USAF 

MOL Program 

zip:4 

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