REVIEW OF THE AMOUNT OF SATELLITE PHOTOGRAPHY (KH-4) BEING ACQUIRED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92B01090R002700030014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2008
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: August 27, 1963
• Content Type: MF

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27 August 1963
NRO REVIEW COMPLETED
UNITED ;'STATES INTELLIGENCE. BOARD
MEMORANDUM FOR: Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance
SUBJECT: Review of the Amount of Satellite
Photography (III-4) Being Acquired
1. The Acting Director of Central Intelligence requested
the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance to review the amount of
satellite photography being acquired, looking toward an evaluation on
whether for any reasons this amount exceeds our needs or goes beyond
the necessary satisfaction of our requirements.
2. The COMOR has made such a review. Its findings and
its recommendation on this question are set forth in the attached paper.
JAM 1S S. LAY, JR.
Executive Secretary
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Review of the Amount of Satellite Photography (KH--4~
Bcrang Acquired
beca.uuse the missions to date have been essentially R&D in nature. In addition,
AA- this review, COMOR has excluded consideration of the KH-b
The COMOR has conducted a review of the amount of
w t,Alite photography recently acquired and attempted to project on
he basis of past experience the likelihood of successes in the future
%tnd the quantitative as well as qualitative effects of such success on
n;he intelligence c:ommutzity?s exploitation and research pr(-)cesses0
: 1l ction of intelligence information but rather informat?or. for spec-, fi.c
geodetic and mapping programs,
The COMOR has reviewed recent history on KH coverage:,
~[t notes first of all that, after review of a schedule submitted by NRO
has been excluded since its purposes are not principally the
it requested revision of the NRO 1963 schedule to insure
me J :Ln. May and June, Z in July, 1 in August, 2 in September, and 1 in
each of the 3 remaining months of the year. This scheduling be came the
u.ofiicial USIB rec,omrrendation in US1B-D?41, 14/7 (COMOR.,D?48/Zl) of
I 1 February 1963. Since February there has been slippage in the schedule,
_:n Juuly, Dr., McMillan submitted a revised schedule which was confirmed
on 18 July by US.LB-Dm41, 15114 (CO)'MMOR@D-48/42) of 18 July 1963, This
STAT
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schedule called for the first J to be fired on 29 July, the second on
30 August, the third on 17 September, the fourth on 27 September,
the fifth on 15 October, and the sixth on 24 October. The seventh and
eighth J packages were scheduled for November and December, There
has been further slippage in the program since that time. The first 3
was fired last Saturday; the second and third are due to go on 10 and 23
September, respectively; the fourth, 15 October; the fifth and sixth on
l l and 14 November; and the seventh on 14 December. The lining
of 2 Js in September is, of course, in accordance with the'original
plan as is the firing of one in October and one in December. The prin-
cipal anorroly is that the 2 Js originally scheduled for the good weather
month of September have now slipped to November. (The 2 now
scheduled for September were, of course, originally slated to go in
July.)
Coverage Obtained of Known ICBM Complexes
3, Current COMOR Agreed Frequency of Search Coverage :
In COMOR?DA 13/4, a paper not yet approved by the Board but on which
NRO comments are awaited, contains an agreed view in para 5e, page 7:
Search coverage of the builtup area of the Communist Bloc,
approximately 6, 000, 000 square miles every 45 days, and
coverage of the rea cinder every 90 days represents the
Board's maximum foreseeable requirement for search,
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Coverage set forth in the 2 foregoing paragraphs may be equated to
have satisfied this requirement either in terms of the last year or the
period since April.
4. In the light of past experience, COMOR would call
attention to the following considerations which need to be borne in
mind in evaaating whether the frequency of coverage is in excess of
our needs:
a, The effects of weather. Coverage of specific
targets, either partial or total, is not predictable encept
that experience shows that rardy is a target covered on a single
mission with sufficient clarity to meet all requirements bearing on
b. Whereas it does not follow that all ICBM targets, for
example needed to be covered in any given 45-day period, the net
collection from our missions to date shows that coverage of ICBM
targets on the order of recent suecesialeg% ieges 'pYclose account on
trends in construction and changes in particular sites with regard
to hardening or expansion.
Conclusion: In the light of the foregoing analysis and taking
into account the schedule for the J program for the remainder of this year.
COMOR does not believe that the amount of satellite photography being
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acquired and anticipated is greatly in excess of our requirementb needs
fn reaching this conclusion, COMOR is primarily basing its judgment
on the, at present, unsettled questions as to the actual reliability of the
J program as against the prediction that in essence it should be as reliable
as the KH-4. However, should 1001 through 1004 achieve success
approximating the MURAL programs, consideration should be given to
the need for 3 during November and December,
6, Recon mendationr - That the Board at this time take no
action with regard to reducing the amount of satellite photography
planned for the balance of the year; but that the Board require of the
COMOR a re-evaluation of the November-December schedule during
October, preferably after the launch of 1004,
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