[NYTr] Declassifying the "Fact of" Satellite Reconnaissance

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

National Security Archive Update - Oct 1, 2007
http://www.nsarchive.org

DECLASSIFYING THE "FACT OF" SATELLITE RECONNAISSANCE

For more information contact:
Jeffrey Richelson - 202/994-7000

Washington D.C., October 1, 2007 - Today the National Security
Archive publishes a collection of documents concerning U.S. policy
with regard to acknowledging the "fact of" U.S. satellite reconnaissance
operations--particularly satellite photoreconnaissance. It was 29
years ago today that President Jimmy Carter, in a speech at the
Kennedy Space Center, acknowledged that the U.S. was operating
photoreconnaissance satellites.

As the documents illustrate, the perceived need to persuade segments
of the public that the U.S. would be able to effectively monitor
Soviet compliance with the strategic arms limitation agreements
served as the catalyst for the acknowledgment. They also show that
the Nixon administration had also considered acknowledging U.S.
satellite reconnaissance activities in 1972 as a means of providing
reassurance that any Soviet cheating would be detected, but the
idea was rejected by national security adviser Henry Kissinger.

The documents published include memos stating the positions of
various individuals and institutions on the issue in both the Nixon
and Carter administrations, assessments of the risks and benefits
of declassification, an assessment of the reactions to President
Carter's disclosure, and presidential directives from the Carter,
Reagan and Clinton administrations specifying the classification
associated with the "fact of" different types of satellite
reconnaissance.

Visit the Web site of the National Security Archive for more
information about today's posting.

http://www.nsarchive.org

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research institute and library located at The George Washington
University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes
declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information
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