Approved For Release 2004/09/09
: CIA-RDP96-00791R0001 00030030-2
Secret
27 Mar
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MEMO FOR:
FROM:
SUBJECT
:
Record
Meeting with Dick
D' Amato re Star Gate Transfer
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*
fn attendance were Dick
D' Amato
(SAC)
,
(D/ORD)
,
(ORD)
,
| (OPA)
,
and
(Comptroller
'
s
or rice)
.
Dick D' Amato's major concerns expressed at
the
27 Mar meeting
in his office were:
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-frustration with DIA past management of
the program
-not
to have this DIA-CIA transfer take forever
-not
to lose talent of viewers or have them "languish at DIA".
-that the contractor was advancing operational viewing
techniques and not
the government program personnel
We described the main activities involved in our response the
CDA,
i.e..
Blue Ribbon Panel
(BRP)
review,
declassification,
and
the subsequent development of a management strategy.
We brought
him up to date on the status
of
the BRP,
told him that we had
contacted the NRC,
that they had chosen four experts
(2-
proponents,
2-critics)
which the NRC would commission
to write
papers and then review using a panel of six NRC members.
We
talked about the declassification of ORD's early program and CIA
sponsorship of
the activity.
We mentioned discussions with CIA
CSI
on the
issue.
We said that we had sent a memo
to DIA
requesting further declassification from them.
We stated that our
management strategy could not be written until we had learned more
about
the program.
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Here
is
a recap of some of the specific items discussed:
He said little about the NRC review,
no real reaction
except tacit approval.
He did ask whether the NRC committee
Approved For Release 2004/09/§9
5?e§kRDP96-00791R0001 00030030-2
Approved For Release 2004/09/09
: CIA-RDP96-00791R0001 00030030-2
Secret
would be finished by July.
We promised that we would have
something
for Congress
in the way of a proposed management
plan by July,
but that
in all honesty,
the NRC committee
probably would not be finished until later
.
He
did seem
overly concerned with the deadline,
he wanted assurances that
this would not take
forever.
He said that
the push to declassify was not
so much to
get us into cooperative programs,
although
it would
facilitate
that.
He
felt that some parts of the program
would have
to remain classified,
such as
targets,
names,
sources,
and methods.
He agreed that a lot of
it could be
declassified and seemed to approve of our steps
in that
direction.
D'Amato said that he was
frustrated with DIA,
that. DIA
had not supported the program over the years,
but
that
it was
Trish Keenan who had suggested that
it be moved to CIA.
He
said that the current program manager at DIA was part of
the
problem.
He didn't mention specific people at
Ft.
Meade,
but did
say he did not want
this DIA-CIA transfer take
forever.
Main
reason
is that the he didn't want
to lose talent of viewers
or have them "languish at DIA".
He did indicate that. he would
put "something in the language in the
fall"
about
this,
however without elaboration.
Didn't make a big deal about
the
50 OK or
10 billets,
though obviously concerned about
the
ultimate status of the viewers.
He asked specifically whether
these people would be physically located at CIA.
I said
I
couldn't answer
it at
this
time,
but that these people would
not remain at DIA if CIA were take
them,
but that we couldn't
make that decision right now.
I
amplified this point
much further and said that currently we have no way to task
them,
get requirements,
or disseminate the results
of their
activities.
Since DIA has all of this
in place we prefer the
leave the people at DIA where they can continue to be
productive
.
He didn
' t have much to say about
the general R&D
.
We agreed to keep him in the
loop,
he said he wanted that.
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!
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Approved For Release 2004/09/0§®^FA
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