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Articles

Technological Wonder and Strategic Vulnerability: Satellite Reconnaissance and American National Security during the Cold War

 

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Notes on contributors

Aaron Bateman

Aaron Bateman is a Ph.D. student in the History of Science and Technology Department at Johns Hopkins University. He is a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University (B.A.) and Saint Mary’s University (M.A.). Additionally, he studied Russian language at Kazan State University in the Russian Federation. Previously he served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and specialized in signals intelligence and strategic reconnaissance. His final assignment was Headquarters Air Force at the Pentagon. He can be contacted at .

Notes

1 Dino Brugioni, Eyes in the Sky: Eisenhower, the CIA and Cold War Aerial Espionage (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2015), p. 94.

2 Ibid.

3 Dwayne Day, “The Sputnik Non Surprise,” 8 September 2009, The Space Review, http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1457/1.

4 Walter McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), p. 144.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Yanek Mieczkowski, Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013), p. 63.

8 Ibid., p. 67.

9 Amy Ryan and Gary Keely, “Intelligence Success or Failure? Sputnik and U.S. Intelligence: The Warning Record,” Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 61, No. 3 (2017), p. 4.

10 Curtis Pebbles, Guardians—Strategic Reconnaissance Satellites (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1987), p. 43.

11 Ernest May, “Strategic Intelligence and U.S. Security: The Contributions of CORONA,” in Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites, edited by Dwayne Day, John Logsdon, and Brian Latell (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1997), p. 26.

12 Memorandum from Alex Johnson to McGeorge Bundy, “Satellite Reconnaissance,” 31 July 1961, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB225/doc27.pdf.

13 Roger Launius, “Exploding the Myth of Popular Support for Project Apollo,” 19 August 2010, Roger Launius’s Blog, https://launiusr.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/exploding-the-myth-of-popular-support-for-project-apollo/.

14 Ibid.

15 John Logsdon, John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon (London: Palgrave, 2010), p. 204.

16 Cited by Dwayne Day, John Logsdon, and Brian Latell, “Introduction,” in Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites, edited by Dwayne Day, John Logsdon, and Brian Latell (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1997), p. 1.

17 Record of Actions of National Security Council Meeting, “Space Policy and Intelligence Requirements,” 10 July 1962, CIA-RDP85B00803R000100020004-8, CREST.

18 DIA Public Affairs, “This Week in DIA History: DIA Identifies Leak of Classified KH-11 Capabilities,” Defense Intelligence Agency, 25 April 2019, https://www.dia.mil/News/Articles/Article-View/Article/1824367/this-week-in-dia-history-dia-identifies-leak-of-classified-kh-11-capabilities/.

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 Stephen Engelberg and Michael Wines, “U.S. Says Soldier Crippled Spy Post Set Up in Berlin,” 7 May 1989, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/07/world/us-says-soldier-crippled-spy-post-set-up-in-berlin.html and for a more detailed account of the Hall affair, see Stuart Harrington, Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher’s World, (Boston: Mariner Books, 1999), pp. 249–371.

22 Memorandum from John Fl. Blake to the Deputy DCI for Resource Management, “Satellite Reconnaissance Security Policy Alternatives,” 11 September 1978, CIA-RDP85-00821R000100110001-3, CREST.

23 Memorandum from European Division, Office of Current Intelligence, “Soviet Sensitivity to Publicity on Satellite Reconnaissance,” 2 April 1970, CIA-RDP79B01709A000200010007-3, CREST.

24 The White House National Science and Technology Council, “Fact Sheet on National Space Policy,” 19 September 1996, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB231/doc41.pdf.

25 Brugioni, Eyes in the Sky, p. 40.

26 Ibid., p. 356.

27 “Reports to USIB by the Satellite Intelligence Requirements Committee and the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance,” c. 1962, CIA-RDP79M00098A000100130001-6, CREST.

28 Brugioni, Eyes in the Sky, p. 38.

29 NSC Briefing Note, “Soviet ICBM and Other Ballistic Missiles,” 11 December 1957, CIA-RDP79R00890A000900040002-2, CREST.

30 Report by Guided Missile Task Force, “Intelligence Assumptions for Planning: Soviet ICBM Sites, 1961–1967,” 2 November 1961, CIA-RDP79R00978A000100010001-0, CREST.

31 Center for the Study of Intelligence Biography, “John McCone as Director of Central Intelligence, 1961–1965,” CIA Document Number: 0001262720, CREST.

32 Ibid.

33 William Colby and Peter Forbath, Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978).

34 Memorandum for National Intelligence Board, “Team B Report on Soviet Strategic Policy and Objectives,” 16 December 1976, LOC-HAK-545-28-1-5, CREST.

35 Address by Admiral Stansfield Turner to the Management Advisory Group,” 24 October 1979, CIA-RDP99-00498R000200120001-9, CREST.

36 Floyd Paseman, A Spy’s Journey: A CIA Memoir (Minneapolis: Zenith Press, 2005), p. 232.

37 Ibid.

38 Markus Wolf and Anne McElvoy, Man Without a Face (New York: Public Affairs, 1999), p. 284.

39 See F.W. Winterbotham, The Ultra Secret (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), pp. 53–56.

40 Clarence E. Smith, “CIA’s Analysis of Soviet Science and Technology,” in CIA’s Analysis of the Soviet Union 1947–1991, edited by Gerald K. Haines and Robert E. Leggett (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2001).

41 Brugioni, Eyes in the Sky, p. 38.

42 Ibid., 45.

43 C. A. Schroeder, C. H. Looney, Jr., and H. E. Carpenter, Jr., “A Scientific Satellite Program,” NRL Memorandum Report No. 487 (Washington, DC: Naval Research Laboratory, July 5, 1955).

44 Ibid.

45 Graham Spinardi, “Science, Technology, and the Cold War: The Military Uses of the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope,” Cold War History, Vol. 6, No. 3 (2006), pp. 279–300, at 281. doi:10.1080/14682740600795428

46 Ibid.

47 Ibid.

48 Bernard Lovell, Astronomer by Chance (New York: Basic, 1990), p. 75.

49 Spinardi, “Science, Technology, and the Cold War,” p. 5.

50 Report from Pakistani Meteorological Society, “Observation of Sputnik I,” 21 February 1958, CIA Document Number: 0000124300, CREST.

51 Scientific Intelligence Report, “The Soviet Space Research Program,” 21 August 1959, CIA Document Number: 0000124246, CREST.

52 Air Force Cambridge Research Center, “Background of National Space Surveillance Control Center,” Press Release 60-P7. Bedford, MA, February 1960.

53 Peebles, The High Frontier, p. 39.

54 Ibid., p. 40.

55 Allen Thomson, “U.S. Naval Space Command Space Surveillance System,” Official Briefing for N32 on 25 June 1994, https://fas.org/spp/military/program/track/spasur_at.htm.

56 Memorandum for Chief, Support Services Staff, “Mission and Function Statement for the Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center,” 3 February 1969, CIA-RDP72R00410R000100030050-0, CREST.

57 Department of State, S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95, Records of Action by the National Security Council.

58 NSAM 156 Committee, “Soviet Capability to Intercept U.S. Satellites,” 8 June 1962, CIA-RDP85B00803R000100030009-2, CREST.

59 Ibid.

60 Memorandum for the United States Intelligence Board, “Protection of U.S. Satellite Reconnaissance Vehicles Against Soviet Anti-Satellite Capabilities,” 14 August 1964, CIA-RDP79B01709A002300010027-8, CREST.

61 Ibid.

62 Letter to Brockway McMillan from John A. McCone, 2 March 1964, CIA-RDP80R01580R002004130026-6, CREST.

63 Memorandum from Albert Wheelon to Assistant Directors of OSA, OSI, and Chief of Special Projects Staff, “Vulnerability of U.S. Reconnaissance Satellites: The Delineation of Component Responsibilities,” 1 January 1965, CIA-RDP75B00285R000200070013-9, CREST.

64 Memorandum for the Director, Central Intelligence from the Director, NRO, “Soviet Anti-Satellite Capability,” 11 October 1965, CIA-RDP80R01580R002004220029-3, CREST.

65 Letter to Alexander Flax from Richard Helms, “Soviet Anti-Satellite Capability Study,” 25 October 1967, CIA-RDP70B00501R000100180001-5, CREST.

66 Note for Director of Central Intelligence from Directory, Intelligence Community Staff, “Backup Reconnaissance Systems, 25 October 1982, CIA-RDP84M00127R000200030046-4, CREST.

67 Ibid.

68 Vladimir Favorsky and Ivan Mesheryakov, Voenno-Kosmicheskie Sily, Vol. 2. Nauka, Moscow, St Petersburg, 1998.

69 Ibid.

70 Report from Office of Policy and Planning Intelligence Community Staff, “National and Tactical Intelligence Relationship,” c. 1975, CIA-RDP83M00171R001000210001-3.

71 Memorandum, “Intelligence as a Force Multiplier—Meeting with REDACTED TENCAP Coordination Officer,” DIA, 25 April 1986, CIA-RDP89B01330R000400750014-7, CREST.

72 Memorandum from George H.W. Bush to Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, “NSC Report on Soviet Anti-Satellite Capability,” 12 May 1976, CIA-RDP79M00467A002500010020-2, CREST.

73 “National Security Directive Memorandum, from National Security Advisor to Secretary of Defense, et al., 7 July 1976, Enhanced Survivability of Critical U.S. Military and Intelligence Space Systems,” Box 1, Folder: National Security Decision Memorandum 333, Gerald R. Ford Library.

74 “National Security Directive Memorandum, from National Security Advisor to Secretary of State, et al., 19 January 1977, U.S. Anti-Satellite Capabilities,” Box 1, Folder: National Security Decision Memorandum 345, Gerald R. Ford Library.

75 “Counter-Proliferation during the Carter Administration,” in Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations, U.S. State Department, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/non-proliferation.

76 Jimmy Carter, PD/NSC-33. “Arms Control for Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Systems.” Jimmy Carter Library and Museum. 10 March 1978, http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/pddirectives/pd33.pdf.

77 James Wieghart, “Russians Can Kill Us in Space, CIA Chief Says,” 1 February 1978, The New York Daily News, CIA-RDP99-00498R000100130069-5, CREST.

78 National Security Study Directive 13-82, “National Space Strategy,” 15 December 1982, CIA-RDP85M00364R000400550064-1, CREST.

79 National Intelligence Estimate, “The Soviet Space Program,” 19 July 1983, CIA-RDP00B00369R000100050006-2, CREST.

80 National Intelligence Estimate, “Soviet Space Programs,” 1 December 1985, CIA-RDP87T00495R000200130003-2, CREST.

81 Memorandum, “11 September 1985 Briefing on the Soviet Anti-Satellite System,” 11 September 1985, CIA-RDP87M01152R000400530006-9, CREST.

82 Memorandum from the National Security Advisor to the Vice President et al., “Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Options,” 20 October 1986, CIA-RDP90B01013R000400210001-0, CREST.

83 Memorandum to William Odom from Robert Gates, “Survivability of Overhead Systems,” 3 October 1986, CIA-RDP88G01116R000700850010-1, CREST.

84 Jeffrey Richelson, “Secrecy and U.S. Satellite Reconnaissance,” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 225, 13 July 2007, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB225/doc24.pdf.

85 Ibid.

86 MOD Letter to No. 10, “Arrangements for MT’s Briefing on Anti-Satellite Systems, SDI, and Arms Control,” 9 July 1984, Margaret Thatcher Foundation, PREM19/1188 f145.

87 No. 10 Record of Conversation, “Anti-Satellite Systems and Arms Control,” Margaret Thatcher Foundation, 16 July 1984, REM19/1188 f129.

88 Ibid.

 

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