CABINET COUNCIL ON COMMERCE AND TRADE (CCCT) MEETING, WEDNESDAY, 15 DECEMBER 1982

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84M00395R000600240003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 25, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 15, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

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DATE
20 Dec. 1982
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DCI/ICS 82-3076
15 December 1982
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Cabinet Council on Commerce and Trade (CCCT) Meeting, Wednesday,
15 December 1982
1. This morning I attended as the DCI representative the CCCT meeting
on the LANDSAT and METSAT programs. Briefly, Mr. John McElroy, Assistant
Administrator for Satellites of the Department of Commerce, gave a presen-
tation on the various satellite systems, including a glowing account of
the capabilities of the French SPOT system. In essence, he stated that
after considerable review the recommendation of the Council would be that
we proceed immediately with the commercialization of both land remote
sensing systems and weather systems.
2. Considerable discussion ensued, being led by Mr. William Niskanen,
member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, who questioned the
Council's going forward with RFPs on a single proposal. He urged that bids
be sought from interested contractors on individual systems, as well as on
a combination, and stressed that the Council should not "pre-judge" the
best mix for any given contractor. This resulted in a fairly heated dis-
cussion lasting for a considerable period of time with, however, despite
Secretary Baldrige's objections, the Niskanen viewpoint prevailing. The
representative of the Office of Management and Budget also questioned the
amount of money which would be required in the government budget to subsidize
this program and made the statement that, while interested customers claim
that the product is valuable to them, not one of them considers it so valuable
that they are willing to invest their own money in the project. This was
seconded by the Secretary of Agriculture, who is the largest user, and who
stated that, while the product is very valuable to them, the Department of
Agriculture is not willing to budget for any of the costs of maintaining
the program.
3. Toward the end of the session, I raised on behalf of the DCI the
question of the national security implications of commercialization,
stressing the concern of the Intelligence Community that commercialization
would pose a threat both from the point of view of technology transfer as
well as from the fact that such commercialization would considerably
enhance the intelligence capabilities of other countries, including spe-
cifically the USSR. I added that we would recommend incremental commercial-
ization, beginning with land remote sensing systems. I stressed that, as
a minimum, recommendation #1 should be modified to provide that specific
recommendations for modification of the satellites to protect. national
security interests be reviewed by the SIG(Space), and that contractual
arrangements involved in the transfer process be subject to detailed
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national security and foreign policy guidelines prior to RFPs so that
the additional costs necessary for maximizing security protection of the
satellites be factored in prior to contract negotiation. l1r. McElroy
stated that he was surprised that this question had arisen, stating that
it had been agreed that an interagency body would be formed to consider
the security implications of commercialization.. I replied that the
language of recommendation #1 was indeed very bland, to which Mr. McElroy
replied that this was in the interest of economy of words. I stressed
that we should like to go on record as recommending that security impli-
cations be examined and factored in before RFP. The NSC representative
(Col. Gil Rye) stated that, speaking for the NSC and SIG(Space), he felt
that provision had been made for the intelligence and security implications
to be adequately addressed and considered within the Community.
4. In summing up the results of the meeting, Secretary Baldrige
stated that we would, rather than go for a single contractor and single
package, request bids from contractors, leaving them to choose the mix
on which they would bid. He also stated that the costs would continue
to be examined as the process went along. He added that it is possible
that contractor estimates would be so high. that we could not possibly
meet them; in which case, the whole idea of commercialization would have
to be abandoned. Finally, turning to me, he stated that, of course,
national security concerns are most important and would have to be
addressed. He asked Mr. Carlucci, the DoD representative, about their
concerns, and Mr. Carlucci responded that he had just signed a letter
setting forth DoD concerns and that if these were taken into account,
and he did not think that they were insoluble, DoD could go along.
Eloise R. Page
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