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ISSUE: How should the ARGO function be carried out now 

that OST is out of business? 

BACKGROUND: Since the late 1 60 1 s, OST has chaired a group 

called ARGO to bring the US government user agencies in 

touch with the capabilities and products of the NRO program. 

Membership included selectively cleared members from DOI, DOA, 

POC, Engineers, AID, EPA, and NASA. Most meetings have been 

information exchanges, but the key functions of the group have 

been to levy civil agency requirements upon the NRO systems 

and to establish mechanisms for "sanitizing 11 the products so 

they could be used by the civil community without compromising 

or revealing the covert intelligence collection programs. 

This aspect included interagency use of the USGS Reston 

facility already established to permit some use of NRO 

products for civil mapping. 

PROBLEM: Dr. David Elliott of the NSC staff has recommended 

that the ARGO files and functions be transferred to the Interagency Coordination Committee on Earth Resources Survey Programs 

(ICCERSP), and that ICCERSP establish a "black" subcommittee 

(whose existence would be classified) to manage the day-to-day 

aspects of this activity. 

FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

a. 0MB mapping study. 

ll This study is believed to recommend reorganizing 

all Federal civil mapping functions into a new 

Federal Mapping Agency, paralleling the new 

Defense Mapping Agency. 

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2) The rationale is that this 'li\Ould save money. 

3) Emphasis is placed on use of NRO systems and 

on downgrading the classification of their 

products. 

4) 

5) 

6) 

ERTS-type systems (and civil ERS in general) 

are treated quite negatively. 

The reoort is to be presented toL_ _ __Jthis 

week ;I I is reportedly favorably inclined. 

Colby and Schlesinger are not thought to 

oppose such classification downgrading to 

increase utility of NRO products. 

b. Operational ERS implications. 

1) Interior still plans to put forward an 

operational ERS system in the FY 1975 budget. 

2) If 0MB approves the new Federal Mapping Agency 

idea and its focus on use of NRO products, 

this could provide a rationale for denying an 

Interior operational system. It could also 

place NASA's experimental ERS programs in 

jeopardy,. 

3) The new agency might come to be considered the 

logical operator of any eventual civil system; 

NASA might then be its R&D arm (as it is for 

NOAA). 

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c. ICCERSP implications. 

1) To be effective, an ICCERSP ARGO subcommittee 

would have to be able to levy data requirements 

through COMIREX on the NRO systems. This presupposes authorities far beyond the scope of the 

present ICCERSP charter and could lead to potential 

conflict with the priorities of the intelligence 

community,. 

2) If effective, ARGO would be meeting some or 

many user requirements with NRO products, 

potentially weakening the support for NASAtype ERS systems. 

3) Since the ICCERSP is solely the creature of 

0MB, 0MB would have to direct the addition of 

the ARGO function. 

d,. International implications. 

If the existence of a classified ERS activity 

became known, it would taint both NASA and the 

civil ERS program at home and abroad. 

e,. Economic implications. 

1) Widespread use of NRO products in ERS by 

Government agencies would create a dichotomy 

between them and other users (commercial, state, 

local, university). 

2. Use of classified data permits easy classification 

of the results, analyses, or resultant information 

to protect US economic interest, real or imagined,. 

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ARGO OPTIONS: 

a. ICCERSP subcommittee. 

1) This could be suggested by correspondence to 

Kissinger and Ash, noting needs for a requirementlevying authority, for protection from disclosure, 

and for downgrading of current security constraints. 

2} This could result in improved information 

exchange, wider use of existing Federally funded 

systems, and an interim approach to the Federal 

Mapping Agency. 

3) This would result in new, potentially severe, 

security responsibilities for ICCERSP and NASA. 

4) Success might impact the NASA program. 

b. NSC subcommittee. 

1) This could be recommended in lieu of an 

ICCERSP function; all above comments apply. 

2) It ~not an appropriate function for the NSC, 

which is not designed for a program management 

role but rather for program review and policy 

evaluation functions. 

c. 0MB committee. 

1) This alternative could be recommended by 0MB 

or the NSC; all the points in a, above, still 

hold. 

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2) It would run the risk of placing 0MB even 

further into the agencies• decision-making 

loops at levels well below the agency heads. 

d. Additional COMIREX reSJ;X)nSibility. 

1) The Committee for Imagery Requirements and 

Exploitation is an interagency group of the 

USIB charged with sorting out the priorities 

for NRO collection systems. 

2) The current Chairman is sympathetic to civil 

applications, to easing of security constraints, 

and to the needs for other than NRO capabilities 

(i.e., ERTS-type coverage). 

3) This alternative might place user agencies 

at some disadvantage relative to the intelligence 

community, since the users are not USIB members. 

4) There would be some danger of constraining 

operational ERS developments by overfocusing 

on intelligence-type functions. 

e. Additional NRO resJ;X)nsibility. 

ll This could be recommended as an alternative 

to c, or d, above. 

2) It would certainly bias the civil program 

toward the use of NRO systems. 

3) The precedent would be set for a permanently 

classified program without NASA participation. 

4) International ERS implications could be severe. 

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f. Take no initiative. 

1) This could lead Dr. Elliott toward some 

unilateral recommendation of his own. 

2) If nothing is done, what values existed in 

ARGO would eva]?Orate with time and loss of 

momentum. 

3) If nothing is done, it might accelerate 

OMB 1 s decisions on a Federal Mapping Agency. 

Assistant Associate 

Administrator 

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