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WASHINGTON 20330 

INEMINFINIUMMINI 

MAY 19 1969 

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD 

SUBJECT: Meeting with the President re MOL 

A meeting was held with the President on May 17 so that 

DoD could present the counter-case to the BoB proposal to 

terminate MOL. The following were present: 

o The President 

o Mr. Laird 

o Dr. Seamans 

o Gen Stewart 

o Dr. Kissinger 

o Mr. Mayo 

o Dr. Schlesinger 

Mr. Laird began the session by stating that he believed 

the responsible people should be given an opportunity to 

speak on difficult, complex problems, and that was why 

Dr. Seamans and I were there. 

Dr. Seamans then gave the President an informal briefing 

on MOL, using the charts listed in Attachment 1 (These charts 

are filed in MOL Program Office). The major points emphasized 

by Dr. Seamans follow: 

o He had accompanied Mr. McNamara on the latter's 

visit to Boeing just before Dynasoar was cancelled. Although 

NASA supported Dynasoar, Mr. McNamara felt it was more 

important that the Defense Department explore the utility of 

man in space for military purposes than maneuvering reentry 

technology. Thus, Dynasoar was terminated and the MOL concept 

announced. 

o Two years of study followed before very high 

resolution photography was identified as the primary area for 

MOL experimentation. Subsequent budgetary problems had 

delayed a possible first flight date from 1970 to mid-1972. 

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o There now are about 19,000 Associate Contractor 

and 1st-tier subcontractors people aboard -- perhaps, 65,000 

in all (end-tier subs, vendors, etc.).. About $1.3 billion 

has been spent to date, with another $1.9 billion to go. 

o The primary objectives of MOL are to acquire 

very high resolution photography and gain military manned 

spaceflight know-how and experience. 

o The GANEF Missile picture montage (Chart 1, 

Atch 1) illustrated why very high resolution photography is 

needed to analyze weapon performance and provide confidence, 

for example, in the ability of B-52's to penetrate at low 

level. 

o Man was described as having particularly 

important functions in "targetting" (pointing; 20-25 pekcent 

more cloud-free targets per day; high-value target selection, 

etc.); "fine-tuning" (alignment, focus, exposure, and 

tracking); and "reading-out information (visual recce; and 

on-board interpretation of processed Bimat film). 

o The manned MOL system was described as offering 

the highest confidence for the best possible photography 

during the President's tenure (which, per Dr. Seamans, was 

the next 71/2 years -- not 31/2). It was added that it appears 

feasible to convert to an unmanned system at lower cost 

($1.2-1.4 billion to go vs $1.9 in present program), but it 

would have serious limitations. 

o VIM photography was described as being Very 

important both for determining weapon system performance and 

in any future arms limitation agreement situation (for 

credible, irrefutable evidence). 

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RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 40P-SECRETo Also described as being very important was 

acquiring experience with military manned space systems to 

explore their value quantitatively (MOL being about 1/10 

the cost of Apollo). 

o The MOL Program was described as having more 

value than anything under consideration by the President's 

Space Task Group. 

o Dr. Seamans observed that cancellation of MOL 

would be a "bitter pill" both for the AF and him personally 

to "swallow", and stated that he would find $350 million 

somewhere in the AF Budget, if necessary, to continue the 

program. (Notes used by Dr. Seamans are included as 

Attachment 2). 

At one point, Mr. Laird reminded the President that he 

had supported MOL in the past -- having once prepared a 

Committee minority report criticizing Mr. McNamara for not 

putting more money in the program. 

PSAC (Land Panel) views were discussed briefly -- with 

the President indicating some familiarity with their support 

of the feasibility of an unmanned system and desire to spend 

the money saved on "something else" (readout). . . . The 

President said the "Intelligence Community" wanted to do 

"everything" and expressed annoyance (the background for this 

statement was not clear to me) with "scientists" who lectured 

him on "international politics", stating that was as much a 

waste of his time as his lecturing them on "science". 

During the brief discussion on the possibility of 

building an unmanned system using the MOL camera, Dr. Seamans 

stated that such an approach was not very well-defined; and 

it was always possible to build a better "paper system" than 

an on-going program. Mr. Laird expressed the opinion that 

"HEXAGON" (he apparently was referring to HEXADOR -- the 

informal code word used for the possible MOL camera/HEXAGON 

spacecraft combination) was a "long way off" and "uncertain". 

(Dr. Schlesinger told me, in an aside, that he didn't think 

the "HEXADOR" approach made much sense.) 

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Mr. Mayo and Dr. Kissinger (perhaps thinking Mr. Laird 

was discussing "HEXAGON" rather than "HEXADOR") reminded the 

President that they had considered terminating HEXAGON and 

that this would "save $1. billion" in future years if the 

KH-4 were used for search purposes. . . . The President 

recalled that Mr. Helms had argued against terminating HEXAGON. 

Just before the meeting concluded, the President asked 

me for my "opinion". I expressed the view that if the US 

acheived an arms limitation agreement with the Soviets, he 

would be "pushing us to accelerate MOL" and would desire even 

higher resolution photography than we could provide for the 

highest possible confidence that the agreement was being 

followed. 

The President concluded the meeting by waving his hand 

in the direction of Mr. Laird, Mr. Mayo, and Dr. Kissinger 

and stating that they would have to discuss this matter 

further (the President made numerous notes while Dr. Seamans 

was discussing MOL). . . . As we walked out, Dr. Seamans 

reminded the President that FY 71 actually would be the peak 

year for MOL; the President indicated he understood but that 

FY 70 was his immediate concern. 

JAMES T. STEWART 

Major General, USAF 

Vice Director, MOL Program 

Atch 

a/ s 

cc: Dr. Seamans:"*"'M 

Dr. McLucas 

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PHOTOCHARTS USED BY DR. SEAMANS 

1. GANEF photo Montage 

2. Baseline MOL manned Mode schematic 

3. Gemini/Laboratory schematic 

4. Acquisition Telescope System operating concept 

5. Low-power view of Sheremetyevo 

6. High-power view of Sheremetyevo 

7. Tracking mirror substitute being installed (GE) 

8. SLC-6 construction at VAFB 

9. Control and recovery net 

10. MOL Program schedule. 

Attachment 1 

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