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162 The Dorian Files Revealed: a Compendium of the NRO’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory Documents which followed and led to President Johnson’s 1965 goahead decision. He reported about $1.3 billion had been spent on the MOL program to date, that another $1.9 billion would complete it, and that about 65,000 people were involved in the program (including the Associate Contractors and subcontractor personnel). 38 Dr. Seamans described MOL’s primary objectives and showed the President a missile picture montage to illustrate why very high resolution photography was needed to analyze weapon performance. He stated VHR photographs would help the United States determine weapon system performance and would be helpful during any future arms limitation arrangement made with the Soviet Union. He placed great emphasis on the activities of man in MOL, noting that the astronauts could identify and select “high- value” targets, fine-tune MOL equipment, read-out information to ground stations, and interpret film processed aboard the spacecraft. In his opinion, he said, MOL had ‘’more value than anything under consideration by the President’s Space Task Group. ” At the conclusion of his briefing, Dr. Seamans commented that the cancellation of MOL would be a “bitter pill” both for the Air Force and him personally to “swallow.” If permitted, he said, he would find $250 million somewhere in the Air Force budget to continue the program. At one point, Secretary Laird recalled that, while in Congress, he had supported MOL and had once prepared a committee minority report criticizing McNamara for not putting more money into the program. After the formal briefing, the President asked General Stewart for his opinion. The Vice Director, MOL, responded that if the United States should achieve an arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union, he, the President, would be ‘’pushing us to accelerate MOL” and would want even higher resolution photography to be sure the Russians were abiding by it. As the conferees walked out of the President’s office, Seamans reminded Mr. Nixon that fiscal year 1971 actually would be the peak year for MOL. The President replied that he understood but the fiscal year 1970 was his immediate concern. 39 The presentation seemed to have gone well and there was some hope for a favorable outcome. Exactly when the President made his decision is unknown. When he did, it was to accept Mayo’s recommendation to terminate the MOL program and proceed with the HEXAGON project. In deciding so, Mr. Nixon apparently took into account Dr. Seamans’ remark that cancellation would Organized at the direction of the President in early 1969 under Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, his science adviser, the Space Task Group was directed to review the nation’s space programs and to recommend future programs. be a great disappointment to the Air Force. To ease the pain, the President arranged to address the Air Force Academy during graduation ceremonies on 4 June 1969. His decision on MOL was still unknown to the Air Force when, at Colorado Springs, he lashed out at critics of the military, denouncing “the open season on the armed forces’’ and attempts to make them a “scapegoat.” He also defended his current international policies and criticized as simplistic the slogans of the “isolationist school of thought’’ that “charity begins at home, let’s first solve our problems at home and then we can deal with the problems of the world.” Such a policy, he said, would be disastrous for the United States. “The danger to us has changed but it has not vanished. We must revitalize our alliances, not abandon them; we must rule out unilateral disarmament because in the real world it won’t work.” Further, he went on, “the aggressors of this world are not going to give the United States a period of grace in which to put our domestic house in order—just as the crisis within our society cannot be put on a back burner until we resolve the problem of Vietnam.” 40 Mr. Nixon’s speech struck a responsive chord within the Air Force and the other services. However, buried within his address were also the following pertinent remarks on defense expenditures: America’s wealth is enormous, but it is not limitless. Every dollar available in the Federal Government has been taken from the American people in taxes. And a responsible government has a duty to be prudent when it spends the people’s money. There is no more justification for wasting money on unnecessary military hardware than there is for wasting it on unwarranted social programs. And there can be no question that we should not spend unnecessarily for defense... 41 The day after this address, Dr. Foster phoned General Stewart to advise that the President had decided to terminate the project, except for the “automatic “ camera system. This news set in motion a series of actions to publicly end the program. On 6 June, Stewart passed the news to Bleymaier and advised detailed guidance would be provided him. The next day he sent Bleymaier instructions to terminate all work on the Gemini spacecraft, the Titan IIIM, and the astronaut space suit and to cancel or reduce to a sustaining level work under other contracts. Military construction on the Vandenberg-
Chapter XV - THE PROJECT TERMINATED 163 AFB launch facility was to be completed “to the minimum practical extent and mothballed” but other construction was to be halted as soon as possible. Since a public announcement was to be made on 10 June, after Congress was notified, Stewart directed Bleymaier to withhold information from the Systems Office staff until the close of the work day, Monday, 9 June. 42 Meanwhile, Col Ralph J. Ford and Lt Col Robert Hermann of the MOL Program Office staff—working with OSD personnel completed a series of announcements connected with the President’s decision. These included a press release on MOL’s cancellation, sample questions and answers for the press, classified and unclassified letters to chairmen of key congressional committees, etc. A “termination scenario’’ was worked up as follows: (1) affected government officials would be notified informally; (2) former President Johnson and Secretaries McNamara, Zuckert, and Brown would be notified; (3) chairmen of congressional committees and individual congressmen whose states would be affected would be informed; (4) MOL contractors would be directed to terminate all efforts except covert camera activities applicable to an unmanned system. After these steps were taken, a press release might be distributed and a news conference held, if desired. 43 On 9 June Packard formally directed Dr. Seamans to: ...terminate the MOL Program except for those camera system elements useful for incorporation into an unmanned satellite system optimized to use the Titan IIID. Directions to MOL contractors should be issued on Tuesday morning, June 10, at which time we will also notify the Congress and make a public statement that MOL is cancelled. Close-out costs for MOL, which I understand are approximately $75 million more than is now available to the MOL Program, should be included in the unclassified FY 70 Air Force budget. An additional $175 million should be included in classified NRP portions of the FY 70 Air Force budget. This will provide for development of the camera system at a reduced pace, for competition for a new spacecraft, and for possible initiation of system development late in FY 70. All future work on the camera and an unmanned system will be part of the NRP. As a security measure, appropriate elements of the MOL Project offices and the camera system contracts should be transferred to the Air Force NRP Special Projects Offices at an early date. Overt MOL activities should be phased out in conjunction with the closeout of MOL Program activities... 44 The next day the classified and unclassified letters were delivered to key Senators and Representatives and, shortly after, Packard announced the termination to the press. On Capitol Hill, Secretary Laird told several Congressional committees that, “with the President’s concurrence,” he had decided to cancel MOL. He listed several reasons for the decision, including the need “to either drastically cut back or terminate numerous small but important efforts or one of the larger, more costly programs.” Laird stated that “major advances have been made by both NASA and DoD in automated techniques for unmanned satellite systems...These have given us confidence that the most essential Department of Defense space missions can be accomplished with lower cost unmanned spacecraft.” He also said: I wish to make two final points for the record. It should be clearly understood that termination is not in any sense an unfavorable reflection on MOL contractors. They have all worked very hard and have achieved excellent results. Likewise, MOL termination should not be construed as a reflection on the Air Force. The MOL goals were practical and achievable. Maximum advantage was being taken of hardware and experience from NASA and other Department of Defense projects, and the program was well managed and good progress was being made. Under other circumstances, the continuance would have been fully justified. 45 Few regrets were voiced in Congress over the MOL decision. One Senator—Cannon of Nevada—was unhappy, however, and complained he had difficulty understanding “the logic of the Department of Defense.” In one breath, he said, OSD officials claimed the United States was in the greatest mortal battle for survival—“ a danger beyond any confrontation in our entire history
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The DORIAN Files Revealed: A Compen
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Center for the Study of National Re
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Contents v Contents Foreword.......
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Contents vii Chapter XII: Congress,
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Foreword ix I am pleased to see the
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Preface xi The Dorian Files Reveale
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Introduction xiii President Lyndon
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Introduction xv as determining the
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Chapter I - Early Space Station Pla
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Chapter II - A National Space Stati
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Chapter III - DYNA-SOAR KILLED, MOL
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Chapter IV: PLANNING THE MANNED ORB
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36 The Dorian Files Revealed: a Com
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Chapter V: EVOLUTION OF THE MOL MAN
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Chapter VI: RESULTS OF THE PRE-PHAS
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Chapter VII: THE LABORATORY VEHICLE
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Chapter VIII: THE MOL PROGRAM DECIS
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Chapter IX: ORGANIZING FOR CONTRACT
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Chapter X - THE MANNED/UNMANNED SYS
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Chapter XI - BUDGET, DEVELOPMENTAL,
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