NRO APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

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CHARGE 500 

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%Tam P 12 2-9777 

?Mad SAFSS 

--1"0-P--9-E-C-R-E-LS 71526Z JUN 69 CIT 

FOR MESSAGE CENTER. PLACE ONE R COPY OF THIS MESSAGE IN 

A SEALED ENVELOPE AND DELIVER ONLY TO GEN I3LEYMAIER. DESTROY ALL 

OTHER COPIES, TAPES, CARBONS, ETC. NOTIFY BY SERVICE MESSAGE TO 

WHEN ABOVE HAS BEEN COMPLETED. 

IMMEDI ATE 

FROM iTO 

EYES ONLY GEN BLEYMAIER FROM GEN STEWART. 

PART I. CONFIRMING OUR TELECON, THE "ADMINISTRATION" 

(PRESUMABLY TFE PRESIDENT) HAS DECIDED TO TERMINATE MOL 

EXCEPT FOR THE "AUTOMATIC" CAMERA SYSTEM. THIS, OF COURSE, 

IS PUBLIC TERMINATION OF THE ENTIRE MOL PROGRAM. I GATHER THE 

FLAN IS FOR SECRETARY LAIRD TO ANNOUNCE MOL TERMINATION IN 

CONGRESS AT 1030 AM TUESDAY; THE AIR FORCE TO NOTIFY MOL 

CONTRACTORS AT THE SAME TIME; AND MR. PACKARD TO HOLD A PRESS 

CONFERENCE ON TIE TERMINATION AT ABOUT 1100AM IN THE PENTAGON 

ALSO ON TUESDAY. PART II. OSO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS AND 

STATEMENTS APPARENTLY WILL CITE TEE NEED TO FURTHER 

REDUCE FEDERAL DEFENSE SPENDING AND "ADVANCES IN AUTOMATED 

TECHNIQUES FOR UNMANNED SATELLITE SYSTEMS" AS PRIMARY FACTORS ge 

PAGE TWO 23971-777-re-R-E-T--- 

IN THE DEICISION TO CANCEL MOL. MR. LAIRD AND MR. PACKARD "JILL 
JIM IL I rIR I u uu lUtt,) I /11..LIJ L I I IILIN AV I I ]1 t•rwriwt—LL ellt3 

NRO APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE 1 JULY tssytt LER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS OR ONE OR MORE OF THE LARGER, 

MORE COSTLY UNDERTAKINGS. THEY WILL ALSO STATE THAT 

MOL, WHILE WORTHwHILE, DID NOT EQUATE IN IMMEDIATE VALUE 

bee it ism 

TO THE SUM OF OTHER DOD PROGRAMS. AND FINALLY, SINCE IT IS 

CNN Sym , 

POSSIBLE TO MEET THE MOST ESSENTIAL DOD NEEDS WITH LESS 

COSTLY UNMANNED SYSTEMS, MOL HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR 

CA NCELLA T ION. 

PART III. AS NEAR .AS I CAN GATHER, THE REASON REALLY IS THE 

NEED TO REDUCE SPENDING -- BOTH IN FY 70 AND FUTURE 

FISCAL YEARS. APPARENTLY, THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN 

CONVINCED THAT THE MONEY BEING INVESTED IN OVERHEAD 

RECONNAISSANCE MUST BE REDUCED BY A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT. 

ALTHOUGH MOST ADMINISTRATION LEADERS AGREE THAT VERY 

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOGRAPHY IS WORTHWHILE, FEW BELIEVE 

THAT THERE IS ANY GREAT URGENCY IN ACQUIRING A MATURE VHR 

CAPABILITY AT ANY GIVEN FUTURE DATE. SINCE IT CLEARLY IS FEASIBLE TO 

USE THE MOL CAMERA IN AN UNMANNED SATELLITE, IT WAS 

DECIDED TO PROTECT THE VHR OPTION AND SAVE MONEY BY TERMINATING 

PAGE THREE 2390 ruPSECTIET 

ALL OF MOL EXCEPT THE "AUTOMATIC" CAMERA SYSTEM, AND START 

AN OPTIMIZED LESS COSTLY UNMANNED SYSTEM IN LATE FY 70 OR 

FY 71. ALL CONCERNED RECOGNIZE THAT AN UNMANNED SYSTEM 

USING THE MOL CAMERA WILL HAVE POORER AVERAGE RESOLUTION, 

BE LESS CAPABLE AND FLEXIBLE, BE LESS RELIABLE, ETC., 

THAN THE MANNED MCI. WOULD HAVE BEEN. PART IV. 

WHEN THE NEWS BREAKS, YOU WILL BE DELUGED WITH QUERIES. 

OTHER THAN INFORMAL RESPONSES TO PRIMARY MOL CONTRACTORS, ffaide1i ION 

Control swim 

ALL QUERIES SHOULD BE REFERRED TO SAFOI OR TIE MOL PROGRAM "u""011 II 

OFFICE. GEN 0' WILL AND GEN MARTIN SHOULD READ THIS MESSAGE. 

PART V. THE TENTATIVE PLAN FOR THE NEAR FUTURE IS AS FOLLOWS: 

THE GEMINI, TITAN HIM, SPACE SUIT AND FEEDING EFFORTS WILL 

lry■ rt. At • ? I f I III arrl I A TM V cI P_4 011 I TAP V NIRICTD I If' T I flhl AT VA PR it 
NRO APPROVED ROW UNDERWAY WILL BE GENERALLY COMPLETED TO THE MINIMUM PRACTICAL 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

EXTENT AND MOTHBALLED; OTHER MOL CONSTRUCTION AT VAFB WILL BE 

STOPPED ASAP. THE TRW CONTRACT WILL BE REDUCED TO A SUSTAINING 

LEVEL OF EFFORT ON ONLY THAT AIRBORNE AND GROUND SOFTWARE 

APPLICABLE TO AN UNMANNED SYSTEM. THE AEROSPACE EFFORT IS 

TO BE REDUCED IMMEDIATELY TO ESSENTIALLY THAT IVESSARY TO 

SUPPORT AN UNMANNED CAMERA SYSTEM, SOFTWARE,/ TERM INAT ION AND 

PAGE FOUR 239677-13-71"-e-R-E-4---- 

SKANTZE'S PLANNING OFFICE. THE GE AND EK CONTRACTS ARE TO BE REDUCED 

IMMEDIATELY TO ONLY THOSE CAMERA SYSTEM EFFORTS APPLICABLE TO 

A NOT-YET-DEFINED UNMANNED SATELLITE SYSTEM THAT WILL USE THE 

COMPLETE MOL MISSION MOOLLE. GE AND EK SHOULD PLAN ON AN FY 70 

LEVEL OF EFFORT OF AT MOST $4 MILLION PER MONTH FOR GE AND $5 

MILL ION PER MONTH FOR EK; THESE AMOUNTS INCLUDE ALL OF THEIR 

SUBCONTRACTORS. THE MCDONNELL-DOUGLAS LABORATORY CONTRACT 

WILL PROBABLY BE REDUCED TO THOSE PORTIONS OF THE COMPUTER AND 

LDAU EFFORTS APPLICABLE TO AN UNMANNED SYSTEM, THE COMPLETION. 

OF ANY MISSION MODULE STRUCTURES AND PARTIAL-STRUCTURE INTERFACE 

SUBSTITUTES FOR GE AND EK WELL ALONG IN FABRICATION, AND SOME 

DAC ENGINEERING SUPPORT FOR A SHORT WHILE. AT MOST, ONLY. ABOUT 

$25. MILLION WILL BE ALLOCATED FOR DAC IN FY 70; THIS INCLUDES THE 

COMPUTER. DAC PROBABL Y WILL BE TOTALLY TERMINATED AND THE 

COMPUTER CONTRACT TRANSFERRED TO GE UNLESS DAC WINS THE NEW SPACECRAFT COMPETITION NASA MAY REPEAT MAY PICK UP THE FA MCI-11LOFULLER EFFORT, PART OF TIE IBM EFFORT (PRINTERS), THE MOLECULAR 

SIEVE, AND SOME OF THE LIFE SUPPORT ITEMS, BUT THOSE APPEAR TO 

EC ABOUT THE ONLY ONES. PART VI. THE CONCEPT FOR THE FUTURE 

IS BASED ON PAST LMSC STUDIES DONE FOR SAFSP (SEE GEN MARTIN Hanle 

PAGE F I VE 2396777-St-e-R-E-1- 

FOR STORY). THOSE STUDIES ENVISAGED USING THE MOL CAMERA, COMPUTER, 

Haile do avaivt CORN Swot 
NRO APPROVED FUT MAT I C CAMERA CONTROLS, A`ND COMPLETE - MISSION MODULE SEC ITON 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

COMBINED WITH AN SAFSP SPACECRAFT, LAUNCHED ATOP A TITAN 111D. 

FOUR MARK V RV'S WOULD BE USED FOR FILM RETURN ... EARLY IN 

FY 70, 70, IT IS PLANNED TO HOLD A FUNDED COVERT SPACECRAFT COMPETI e 

ELE TWEEN LMSC/GE/EK AND MAC-D/GE/EK. 144C-DWILL BE ENCOURAGED TO "zygin 

J 7 ni it 

PROPOSE A REPACKAGING OF APPROPRIATE MOL COMPONENTS AND SUBSYSTEMS; 

LMS ENCOURAGED TO PROPOSE BASED ON AN SAFtiliNGRAM ... PRELIMINARY 

THINKING HERE SEEMS TO BE THAT I WILL HEAD UP A TEAM OF MOL/ 

SAFSS/SAFSP PLANNING PEOPLE TO PREPARE AN REP. AS SOON AS 

POSSIBLE, THE ENTIRE EFFORT WILL BE COME PART OF THE NRP UNDER. 

SAFSP. PART VII. UNLESS SOW MIRACLE HAPPENS, COL KEMP WILL BE OUT 

SUNDAY PM WITH DE OFFICIAL DIRECTION TO TERMINATE, STOP WORK, 

CR REDUCE EFFORT IN LINE WITH THE PRECEDING SECTIONS. If WILL 

ALSO HAVE ANY DRAFT STATEMENTS, PRESS RELEASES, ETC., AVAILABLE 

AT TIE TIME, PLUS A BETTER-THOUGHT-OUT MEMO FROM ME ON THE 

FUTURE. PLAN. PER OUR DISCUSSION FRIDAY, HE WILL CONTACT ONLY 

YOU. ANY LAST MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS OR MODIFICATIONS, TO DE 

PACKAGE KEMP WILL HAVE WILL BE PROVIDED MONDAY PM. PART VIII. 

ADVISE OILY THE MINIMUM NECESSARY SYSTEMS OFFICE PERSONNEL. MONDAY 

PAGE SIX 23901777"-E-e-R-C--T-- 

AM. BY CLOSE OF YOUR WORK DAY MONDAY, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO 

ANNOUNCE THIS TO THE ENTIRE SO. 

TOPSECRET 

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-ALL COPIES AND TAPES EXCEPT FOR THF (INF 

COPY DELIVERED TO GEN BLEYMAIER OF 2390 

WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED BY BURNING 

AND WITNESSED BY GEN BLEYMAIER AT 

071645Z. 

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