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~NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, O.C. 

lllllliHIIIII 

BYEMAN 

COIITROl SYSUII 

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

/() I'-/ l<-/!r I u 

November 5, 196~;_,1,e~/.;·J" 

Dear Dick: 

Thank you for your comments on the NASA earth-sensing 

activity guidelines memorandum. Since you say that you have no 

substantive problems with the paper, I propose to distribute it 

to the addressees. 

You raise two valid points and I would like to comment on 

them. 

a. You point out that perhaps the NSAM 156 Committee should 

review my proposal. I believe that my proposal for revised guidelines is in accord with the recommendation of that Committee and I 

do not feel that a meeting is necessary now. A Committee meeting 

will probably be required when NASA proposes actual development 

of systems yielding better than 20 meters ground resolution and 

they may do so shortly after their review of the MOL-developer. 

tracking telescope. For the time being, NASA can study such };,)Ssible systems for performance to 5 meters within guidelines. Our 

concern in this area relates primarily to NASA's earth resources 

program and a possible political confrontation if the program becomes provocative. The security policy guidelines provided by you 

and the NSAM 156 Committee seem adequate at present and I will 

operate accordingly. 

b. You also exi.,..:·ess concern about NASA releasing data on 

orbital astronomical instruments which may reveal the quality of 

our reconnaissance systems. Although I propose to recognize 

NASA astronomical experiments as non-provocative to other nations, 

BYEMAN 

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I realize that we must also insure protection of critical technology. 

The SACC will have the continuing responsibility to review NASA 

orbital astronomy projects and identify those aspects which cause 

this type of concern. The SACC will develop security protection 

recommendations after a NASA experiment has been defined and 

before hardware procurement is authorized. The first case in 

point may be a NASA proposal to use some optical technology 

derived from the DORIAN telescope of MOL. I will monitor closely 

their study of this idea and keep you and the other members of the 

ExCom informed of developments. 

Sincerely, 

McLucas 

H•NDlt YI~ 

BY AN 

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,)Ji1"NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

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BYEMAN 

THE NRO STAFF October 15, 1969 

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MEMORANDUM FOR DR. McLUCAS 

SUBJECT: Guidelines for NASA Earth-Sensing Activity 

Mr. Helms has responded to our note which asked his review 

and comments on the guidelines paper you are preparing to send 

to the ExCom. Although he sees no major difficulty with the contents, he has raised two points for your consideration. 

1. He suggests it might be appropriate to refer our proposal 

to the NSAM 156 Committee for final action. 

Comment. We agree with Mr. Helms that this subject is of 

interest to agencies other than DOD and NASA. On the other hand, 

we do not feel that our proposal need be acted upon by the NSAM 

156 Committee. In its earlier review of NASA activity in this area, 

the Committee concluded that NASA should develop with the concurrence of the NRO a detailed set of rules to facilitate the application of the approved general guidelines. This set of rules was 

developed by the NRO and NASA, and has served as the basis for 

the continuing review by SACC of all NASA activity in this area. 

Our current proposal is essentially an updating of tr.ose rules. It 

is consistent with the established guidelines and with the Committee's 

guidance and recommendations, as agreed to by the several agencies 

involved. 

This is n,)t w 1.mply that the effort NASA is currently planning 

will not need to be reviewed at some particular point by the Committee. 

Should NASA decide that it needs to proceed with the actual development 

,f a system which would deliver products exceeding in quality of ground 

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resolution the currently approved 20 meters, we would need a policy 

consideration by the Committee for any relaxation of the restrictions. 

2. He suggests that the removal of any limitation on NASA's 

use of optical systems for astronomical purposes would still leave 

open the question of making available, in unclassified form, detailed 

design data on optical systems. 

Comment. As noted in our proposal, we have for some time 

recognized astronomical experiments as intrinsically non-provocative 

to other nations, and consequently have considered the restrictions 

imposed on these experiments to be somewhat unrealistic. Our proposal would merely except such experiments from a SACC review as 

non-earth-looking efforts. It does not remove the existing requirement for a review of these efforts by SACC to insure that there is no 

adverse impact on the NRP. Specifically, it is intended that the SACC 

would continue to review NASA space flight astronomy projects, prior 

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to initiation and after a definition of the hardware to be procured or used, 

for possible relation to NRP or military hardware and techniques. It 

is also a function of the SACC to develop security protection recommendations for potentially sensitive instrumentation and data which may be 

used in astronomical systems. We feel that these reviews would insure 

the protection of potentially sensitive optical system design data and 

instrumentation. 

In summary, our proposal is consistent with the NSAM 156 

Committee guidance and recommendations. We do not consider it 

necessary that the revised rules for implementing the Committee's 

guidance be referred to the Committee for final action .. 

The procedures for implementing these guidelines recognize the 

potential sensitivity of detailed optical system design data and its 

adaptation for reconnaissance purposes; and provide the means for 

insuring its protection within the appropriate security system. 

I have attached, for your signatur-e, a response to Mr. Helms 1 

memorandum. Since Mr. Helms does not feel strongly about the 

necessity of referring the proposal to the NSAM 156 Committee, 

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and since we have the means for insuring that potentially sensitive 

data is not made available in an unclassified form, I recommend 

proceeding, as planned, to obtain MSFPC approval of the revised 

guidelines for an early implementation by SACC. 

~-~1l_. 

WILLIAM R. YOST 

Colonel, USAF 

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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE' 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

MEMORANDUM· 

October 7, 1969 

NOTE FOR MR. HELMS 

Attached is a paper which discusses 

the guidelines for NASA earth sensing 

activity. 

Dr. McLucas is ready to distrib~te 

the attached paper to the members of the 

Ex~cutive Committee, but before doing so 

has asked for any comments you might have. 

F. ROBERT NAKA 

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