LETTER TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM H. WEBSTER FROM DAVID E. BOREN

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06897612
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2021
• Case Number: F-2021-01238
• Publication Date: February 1, 1990

Approved for Release: 2021/12/14 C06897612
NI DAVID L. BOREN. OKLAHOMA. CHAIRMAN
WILLIAM S. COHEN, MAINE, VICE CHAIRMAN
SAM NUNN, GEORGIA ORRIN HATCH. MAW
ERNEST F. HOLLINGS. SOUTH CAROLINA FRANK MURKOWSKI. ALASKA
SILL BRADLEY, NEW JERSEY ARLEN SPECTER, PENNSYLVANIA
ALAN CRANSTON. CALIFORNIA
DENNIS DECONCINI, ARIZONA
HOWARD M. METZENBAUM. OHIO
JOHN H. GLENN. JR., OHIO
JOHN WARNER. VIRGINIA
ALFONSE M. ()AMATO. NEW YORK
JOHN C. DANFORTH, MISSOURI
GEORGE MITCHELL MAINE, EX OFFICIO
ROBERT DOLE, KANSAS, EX OFFICIO
GEORGE J. TENET. STAFF DIRECTOR
JAMES H. DYKSTRA, MINORITY STAFF DIRECTOR
L. BRITT SNIDER. GENERAL COUNSEL
KATHLEEN P. McGHEE, CHIEF CLERK
nitai eg5tates e$enate
The Honorable William H. Webster
Director of Central Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
Dear Judge Webster:
SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-6475
February 1, 1990
SSCI #90-406-A
I have been asked by Senator Gore, Chairman of the
Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Senate
Committee on Commerce, to solicit your assistance on a project he
has undertaken..
Senator Gore is conducting a thorough review of the possible
role and utility of prior, existing, and planned earth observation
satellites and other sensors in a comprehensive global change
research program. Specifically, he is attempting to determine
what sensors are now in place, or planned, and what data are, or
will be, available that could provide insights and information of
value to a wide range of scientific inquiries. He has asked for
our assistance in gathering the same types of information for
classified programs in the Department of Defense and the
Intelligence Community.
I have attached a copy of.Senator Gore's letter for your
reference. Since Senator Gore anticipates using the results of
this research in upcoming budget authorization hearings, I hope
that you will be able to quickly lend your assistance and task the
appropriate elements of the Intelligence Community. Senator Gore
and his staff understand the security implications and
_responsibilities associated with this request. I have asked Mr.
Keith Hall to serve as the liaison between them and the Community.
I have also forwarded this same request to Mr. Martin Faga,
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Space)..
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.
Attachment
Sincerely,
Dd . Boren
Chairman
Approved for Release: 2021/12/14 C06897612
' .B.ERT GONTh. JR.
TENNESSEE
Approved for Release: 2021/12/14 C06897612
393 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
PHONE: [phone]
United. eStats t$enatc
WASHINGTON. DC 20510
January 12, 1990
Senator David L. Boren
Chairman
Select Committee on Intelligence
SH 211
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
One of the key issues that will face the Second Session of
the 101st Congress will be global change. In particular, the
Congress will be required to review the Administration's
proposed U.S. Global Change Research Program including the
NASA Mission to Planet Earth -- a complex space-based earth
observation syst.qn.
In preparation for this, I have instituted a series of
roundtable discussion with leading members .of the science
community to try and determine what scientific questions need
answers to assist policy makers in formulating prudent rules,
regulations and protocols and what assets are already
available or planned that would expedite this process and
reduce it costs. Our reviecehas lead us to the point where
we are trying to determine what space-based earth observation
sensors are now in place and what data is already available
that could provide insights and information of value to a
wide range of scientific inquiries.
On the civil side, I have initiated a thorough review of
prior, existing and planned earth observations satellites and
in situ programs to try and determine what resources are
already available and how they could be utilized in a
comprehensive global change research program. However, I
have little information available about Department of Defense
and intelligence gathering systems -- both space-based and
aircraft sensors -- whose data could be used to provide
information to the science community that would help answer
the key scientific inquiries concerning global change. Your
help in this area would be greatly appreciated.
In particular, I would like to know if you would be willing
-to ask the Director of Central Intelligence to develop a
catalog of previous, existing, and planned satellite systems
and aircraft sensors that would be useful to the U.S. Global
Change Research Program. I would like to know if there are
systems that could provide data concerning land surface
properties (snow cover, ice-sheet volume, index of vegetation
cover, soil moisture), ocean variables (sea surface
Approved for Release: 2021/12/14 C06897612
Approved for Release: 2021/12/14 C06897612
temperature, sea ice type and motion, sea level data, ocean
carbon dioxide, ocean chlorophyll and circulation patterns)
geophysical variables (plate motions) climate and atmospheric
variables (concentrations of important trace species, cloud
amounts, types and heights, precipitation, tropical winds)
etc.
I also would like to know what processing technologies are
available for such large volumes of-data. This information
also would be useful to the U.S. Global Change Research
Initiative.
At present, the Department of Defense is a participant in the
U.S. Global Change Research Program's Committee on Earth
Sciences so I would hope that some of this information is
already being gathered. But I would be grateful if you could
initiate this request and if this information could be
gathered as soon as possible.
AL GORE
Approved for Release: 2021/12/14 C06897612