NRO-MOL_2015

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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
Page 1:
The DORIAN Files Revealed: A Compen
Page 4:
Center for the Study of National Re
Page 7 and 8:
Contents v Contents Foreword.......
Page 9 and 10:
Contents vii Chapter XII: Congress,
Page 11 and 12:
Foreword ix I am pleased to see the
Page 13 and 14:
Preface xi The Dorian Files Reveale
Page 15 and 16:
Introduction xiii President Lyndon
Page 17 and 18:
Introduction xv as determining the
Page 19 and 20:
Chapter I - Early Space Station Pla
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Chapter II - A National Space Stati
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Chapter III - DYNA-SOAR KILLED, MOL
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 52 and 53:
Chapter IV: PLANNING THE MANNED ORB
Page 54 and 55:
36 The Dorian Files Revealed: a Com
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64 and 65:
Chapter V: EVOLUTION OF THE MOL MAN
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
Chapter VI: RESULTS OF THE PRE-PHAS
Page 70 and 71:
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
Chapter VII: THE LABORATORY VEHICLE
Page 78 and 79:
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Chapter VIII: THE MOL PROGRAM DECIS
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Chapter IX: ORGANIZING FOR CONTRACT
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108:
Page 111 and 112:
Chapter X - THE MANNED/UNMANNED SYS
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Chapter XI - BUDGET, DEVELOPMENTAL,
Page 127 and 128:
Chapter XI - BUDGET, DEVELOPMENTAL,
Page 129 and 130: Chapter XI - BUDGET, DEVELOPMENTAL,
Page 131 and 132: Chapter XI - BUDGET, DEVELOPMENTAL,
Page 134 and 135: Chapter XII: CONGRESS, MOL SECURITY
Page 136 and 137: 118 The Dorian Files Revealed: a Co
Page 144 and 145: Chapter XIII: AIR FORCE/NASA COORDI
Page 160 and 161: Chapter XIV: NEW FINANCIAL AND SCHE
Page 172 and 173: Chapter XV: THE PROJECT TERMINATED
Page 184 and 185: Chapter XVI: POST-MORTEM
Page 192 and 193: Supplemental Documents InDeX
show all

NRO-MOL_2015

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?