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DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY CONTROL 

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY /, 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

13 June 1966 

MEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE 

CO SUBJECT: Army Participation in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) 

Program 

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References: 

a. Memorandum for the Assistant Secretary of the Army (R&D), 

6 April 1966, subject: Manned Orbiting Laboratory. 

b. Memorandum for the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (R&D), 

23 February 1966, subject: Manned Orbiting Laboratory. 

Your memorandum of 6 April 1966 (reference a, above) contains 

additional information on the MOL Program which was not available when 

the original Army proposal for participation in the MOL Program was 

prepared. Based on this additional information, the Army proposals in 

reference b, above, have been reviewed and modification of these proposals 

now seem appropriate. 

As a basic consideration, it is apparent that the high resolution 

photography, to be obtained through the approved MOL mission, will be of 

direct and immediate value to the Army, both for tactical field operations 

and for long-term, more deliberate intelligence functions. Our experience 

in Vietnam has exposed a most important need for the rapid acquisition and 

transmission to Army field commanders of information which cannot be obtained by existing facilities. 

Concerning acquisition systems, I feel it is axiomatic that the users 

of information should participate in the development of collection capabilities. This is necessary both to assist in obtaining information in 

a format which is suitable to the user, and to insure that techniques and 

procedures for exploiting information are developed concurrently with the 

development of the collection capabilities. For this reason, it is proposed that a well-qualified Army officer be assigned to the MOL Program 

Office in Washington for full-time work. Discussion with members of the 

MOL Program Office indicate that assignment to the MOL Test Operations. 

Division or the MOL Mission Planning Division would be appropriate for 

o) this officer. 

BRALINI:EVIA 413 

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SUBJECT: Army Participation in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) 

Program 

The second important factor is that information be made available 

to the user (in this case the Army field commander) on a timely basis. 

The plan to use wide-band transmission techniques to provide prompt readout of selected portions of photography is, therefore, of major interest 

to the Army. The communications techniques and read-out facilities should 

provide appropriate information to Army command elements in a battlefield 

environment. In order to provide an input on Army requirements and to 

take advantage of Army experience and capabilities in satellite communications, the assignment of a suitably qualified Army officer to the MOL 

System Office at the USAF Space Systems Division is proposed. 

Since SIGINT activities for MOL are not yet fully established, 

assignment of an Army officer to this activity appears to be premature. 

This would, of course, be reconsidered as the program evolves. Until that 

time, the Army officer to be assigned to the MOL Program Office in 

Washington could monitor this activity as appropriate. 

The proposal, outlined above, to assign Army officers to the MOL 

Program represents careful consideration of essential Army interests and 

capabilities. I hope you will agree that the action I have proposed will 

make substantial contributions to the entire MOL Program as well as 

satisfying significant Army needs. With your agreement, we will proceed 

to make the necessary arrangements with the MOL Program Office for the 

assignment of Army officers to the MOL Program. The matter of assigning 

additional Army officers to the National Reconnaissance Office, in 

addition to those proposed for the MOL Program, will be considered 

separately. 

Willis M. Hawkins 

Assistant Secretary of the Army (R&D) 

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