'13 jay 1976

•

MEMORANDUM FOR MR. ROBERT D. MURPHY, CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE

OVERSIGHT BOARD

SUBJECT: First Periodic Report on the National Reconnaissance

Program

Your 5 May 1976 letter called for the first periodic

report on the National Reconnaissance Program by 15 July 1976.

The DOD, as the Executive Agent for the NRO, provides General

Counsel support to and will provide Inspector General oversight of the National Reconnaissance Program.

For your information, in accordance with DOD direction,

the National Reconnaissance Office issued interim implementation instructions to NRP Program Directors on 28 May 1976. A

copy of these instructions are provided for reference (Atch 1).

& paper on Authority for the National Reconnaissance Program

Domestic-Satellite Reconnaissance Activities is also attached

as background (Atch 2).

Within the authority.of the NRP to conduct essential

domestic satellite engineering and system test requirements,

there have been no known breaches of Executive Order 11905.

T. CHARLES W. COOK

Senior Adviser to the Acting Director

OSD General Counsel National Reconnaissance Office

2 Attachments

NRP Implementing Instructions

Background Paper

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VERBATIM EXTRACT OF THE DIRECTOR,

NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE MESSAGE

TO PROGRAM DIRECTORS IMPLEMENTING E. 0. 11905

28 MAY 1976

The President's new E.O. 11905 on Foreign Intelligence

contains a restriction on electronic surveillance activities

within the United States or against U.S. persons overseas.

The principal paragraph of interest is Section 5, paragraph

(b) (2), page 27 quoted below:

"Foreign intelligence agencies shall not engage

in any of the following activities: (S) Electronic

surveillance which is made from, or is intended by

the sender to be received in, the United States, or

directed against United States persons abroad, except

lawful electronic surveillance under procedures

approved by the Attorney General; provided, that

the Central Intelligence Agency shall not perform

electronic surveillance within the United States,

except for the purpose of testing equipment under

procedures approved by the Attorney General consistent

with law."

The E. O. prohibits physical surveillance which is

defined as "... continuing visual observation by any

means'...."

The NRP has received interim authority from the Department

of Defense to perform essential domestic satellite photo and

electronic data collection for research and development and

engineering test purposes. The Director of the NRO has been

assigned the authority and responsibility for establishing

and implementing procedures to insure that operating elements

of the NRP adhere to the spirit and intent of E.O. 11905.

Accordingly, the following policy and procedures are set

forth for operating elements of the NRP. These procedures

may be subject to change based on forthcoming guidance from

the Justice Department.

The spirit and intent of the provisions of

E. O. 11905 pertaining to electronics and photo activities

will be strictly adhered to by all elements and members of

the NRP.

NRP initiated domestic activities with reconnaissance satellites under the provisions of the authority

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delegated to the DNRO are limited to research and development

and engineering test requirements consisting of signals and

photo intelligence systems tests and ground truth tests,

system operational calibration, and other essential efforts

related to the development of satellite systems. The authority

to conduct domestic operational requirements, such as mapping,

charting and geodesy, is reserved to the DCI.

c. Each NRP initiated domestic requirement will be

personally approved by the respective NRO Program Director

(i.e., Gen Rulpa, Mr. Duckett, and Capt Darcy).

• d. Domestic collection will be minimized by limiting

research and development and system engineering test activities

to those requirements which clearly cannot be met realistically

by other means.

e. Domestic photo and electronics data inadvertently

obtained on U.S. persons or organizations will not be used for

any purposes and will be destroyed at the earliest practical

time (when the target data is no longer of.technical or

scientific use).

'f. A written record containing the description of

each domestic research and development and test requirement

will be maintained.

NRP contractors will be apprised of the provisions

of this directive and compliance requirements of all organizations supporting the NRP.

Should any unforeseen requirements arise which

would deviate from the above provisions, they will not be

initiated without the prior approval of the DNRO.

Request each addressee provide by 1 July 1976, a detailed

plan which identifies procedures for:

Approving NRP initiated requirements by the

respective NRO Program Director.

Maintaining records on authorized domestic

activities conducted with NRP satellite reconnaissance

assets.

c. Destroying domestic material inadvertently

obtained on U.S. persons or organizations.

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d. Reviewing NRP contractor adherence to the applicable

procedures of this directive.
06-76

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AUTHORITY FOR THE NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE PROGRAM

DOMESTIC SATELLITE RECONNAISSANCE ACTIVITIES

Background. The National Reconnaissance Program (NRP)

was established as a national effort to satisfy those foreign

intelligence needs of the United States Government which can

best be met by overhead reconnaissance satellites. The NRP

consists of Photo and Signals Intelligence (S/GINT) satellites

that have a unique capability to obtain intelligence from

"denied areas" of the world. Information obtained by NRP

-satellites is used in fulfilling national, political, economic,

strategic and tactical military, and scientific and technological intelligence needs. This information directly supports

national objectives and requirements, such as SALT monitoring,

Mutual Balanced Force Reductions,.indications and warning,

and operation and command support. The total NRP--the development, procurement and operation of reconnaissance satellites,

is conducted under extremely sensitive security policies and

procedures.

Organization. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

was established as a result of a Presidential decision to

create an intelligence collection program operating on a low

profile basis and using minimum management overhead. The

Secretary of Defense is the Executive Agent for the NRP. The

Under Secretary of the Air Force, in his assigned position

as the Director of the NRO, has been delegated the responsibility and authority for accomplishing the NRP mission.

The Executive Order assigned responsibility for acquisition

of intelligence data to the DCI.

The NRO is a separate agency of the Department of Defense

organized to provide a central, streamlined management agency

for the NRP. In addition to a headquarters staff, the NRO has

three Program Offices: Program A, an Air Force element located

at Los Angeles, California; Program B, a CIA element located in

Washington, D.C.; and Program C, within the Navy, also located

in Washington, D.C. These Program Offices have the responsibility to design, develop, and operate the reconnaissance

satellite systems.

III. Domestic Requirements. The NRP conducts limited domestic

photography collection in response to approved Intelligence

Community and civilian requirements, as directed and a roved
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by the DCI. NRP satellites also collect photography and

electronic data in support of satellite research and

development and system engineering tests. In the process

of performing essential research and development and system

engineering tests, NRP satellites inadvertently obtain

incidental electronic and photographic data on other than

test targets from within the United States. However, this

incidental collected domestic data is not exploited or used

in any way other than for development and system engineering

requirements.

Photography within the United States is taken by NRP

.satellites for three purposes.

a. Ta fulfill tasking by the Committee on Imagery

Requirements and Exploitation, at the direction and approval

of the DC/, in support of the exploitation studies (target

signature comparison, photo interpreter training, and system

comparison tests); and to establish ground truth tests or

ground scene accuracy (by identifying a specific target and

measuring the exact dimensions and reflections of the target.)

. b. In support of engineering tests, directed at

optimizing the information return of satellite systems

on-orbit.

c. In response to civilian requirements, as established by the *Committee for Civilian Application of Classified

Photography of the United States," and as approved by the DCI,

such as mapping and forest and agricultural, geological surveys,

and special requirements.

Electronic data is collected within the United States in

support of SIGINT tests and calibration of systems.

When approved by the DCI, special SIGINT collectiOn

exercises are conducted in the United States in conjunction

with military training exercises to support operational

military requirements.

IV. Implications of Executive Order 11905. Executive Order

11905 (page 27, para 5(b)(2)) prohibits foreign intelligence

agencies from performing "...electronic surveillance to

intercept a communication which is made from, or is intended

by the sender to be received in, the United States, or directed

against United States persons abroad, except lawful electronic

surveillance under procedures approved by the Attorney

General...." The Executive Order also prohibits physical

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surveillance which is defined as "...continuing visual observation by any means...." (page.25, para 5(a)(8)).

NRP authorized and initiated domestic activities with

reconnaissance satellites are limited to research and development, engineering tests and system improvement efforts on

reconnaissance satellites. The NRO does not direct or task

any satellite to obtain domestic data for any purpose other

than for research and development and system engineering test

requirements. However, as identified, NRP satellites inadvertently obtain, in the course of performing routine research and

development and system engineering tests, intercepts of electronics

signals and communications and photographs of other than selected

test targets from within the United States.

Authority for the NRO to Conduct Essebtial Domestic Satellite

Photo and Electronic Data Collection. The NRO is authorized to

perform essential domestic satellite photo and electronic data

collection for research and development and system engineering

test requirements. The Director of the NRO is delegated the

authority to perform these system essential requirements and

iS charged with establishing and implementing procedures to

insure that operating elements of the NRP adhere to the spirit

and intent of Executive Order 11905; and that the domestic

data collected by the NRO for research and development and

engineering test requirements.

Implementation. The authority and responsibility contained in Section V will be implemented by the DNRO immediately

and will be set forth in Department of Defense Directive

Number TS 5105.23.

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