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FEB 19 1968 

• .NRO APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD 

SUBJECT: February 14 Space Council Meeting 

On February 14, Mr. Kirk and I accompanied Dr. Foster 

to a Space Council meeting. The agenda included two items: 

1. The 1969 Paris Air Show; and 2. MOL/AAP presentations to 

the Congress. Among those present were the Vice President, 

Dr. Foster, Mr. Webb, Ambassador Bohlen, and representatives 

of AEC, Commerce, etc. 

1969 Paris Air Show 

Commerce was quite disturbed over the DoD announcement 

that it would not participate in the 1969 Paris Air• Show. 

Dr. Foster related the DoD rationale (e.g., would not foster 

sales; Vietnam war; save money/curb travel, etc.). Commerce 

indicated that if DoD did not participate, none of the US 

agencies should participate (e.g., difficulty of getting 

US industry without DoD; need for logistics support by 

DoD, etc.). 

The Vice President was quite emphatic in his belief that 

the US had to participate in a certain number of international 

expositions, that when we did, we had to go "first class", 

etc. He directed Commerce to reconvene their interagency 

planning group and come up with a recommendation, pros and 

cons, etc., in the next few months so that if the US did 

participate, appropriate plans and preparations could be 

made. 

MOL/AAP Presentations to Congress 

The Vice President expressed concern, in view of MOL 

classification, that MOL/AAP could be properly presented to 

the Congress and the public and not appear duplicative of 

each other. Both Dr. Foster and Mr. Webb summarized the 

gist of NASA and DoD statements to Congress, coordination 

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between the two agencies, answers to probable questions, 

etc. Mr. Webb indicated that he did not feel MOL would have 

trouble but that AAP might. 

I explained to the Vice President how we briefed the 

Chairmen and his designated Committee Members and Staff 

Members on MOL, who we have seen so far this year, and that 

we are asking each Chairman if sufficient people have been 

briefed, etc. 

The Vice President seemed satisfied and asked if there 

were any comments. Ambassador Bohlen (looking at some notes) 

stated, "I see we have spent some $722 million on this 

project. I propose that a Committee, consisting of the 

Secretary of State, the DCI, the Administrator, NASA, and 

the Secretary of Defense study the need . . . before we go 

any farther. . ." Dr. Foster explained some of the background, 

touched on the NRP ExCom, the NSAM 156 Ad Hoc Group, etc. 

Ambassador Bohlen stated that this system had never been 

"approved by USIB", and I pointed out that USIB did not 

"approve" systems, per se. 

The Vice President then inquired as to how MOL launches 

would be handled from a public relations standpoint. I 

indicated that our plan was predicated on a continuation of 

present US policy toward satellite reconnaissance, and that 

since it was physically impossible to disguise a MOL being 

built up on the pad, we expected to announce that fact, the 

launch, on-orbit health of the crew periodically, recovery, 

etc. I indicated that the crew would probably be permitted 

to discuss the general operation of the spacecraft, etc. 

with the press, but that there would be no discussion of the 

"military experiments" they performed. 

It seemed at this point that Ambassador Bohlen was 

somewhat confused as to the functions of the NSAM 156 Ad Hoc 

Group (e.g., that perhaps, in his nind, their purpose was 

to review the "need" for MOL). 
JAMES T. STEWART 

Major General, USAF 

Vice Director, MOL Program 

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In an aside, Dr. Foster proposed to the Ambassador 

that we give him a thorough briefing on MOL, and this was 

accepted. The Vice President, who had not participated in 

the Bohlen/Foster/Stewart discussion regarding the "need" 

and"USEB approval" understood that DoD would brief the 

Ambassador on MOL, and apparently left any further action 

after that up to Mr. Bohlen. The meeting was then 

adjourned. 

Subsequent to the meeting, the Space Council Staff 

expressed considerable surprise at the Ambassador's proposal 

and questions. Mr. Kirk and I were equally surprised. The 

previous Friday, at his request, I had given Mr. Perez 

(State Department S&T Staff) a complete MOL/DORIAN updating 

so that he could brief the State Department representative 

at the meeting. The "$722 million" figure quoted by 

Ambassador Bohlen was given by.me to Mr. Perez; however, he 

did not ask any questions of other than an information 

nature. 

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