NRO-MOL_2015

Chapter VIII - THE MOL PROGRAM DECISION 25 August 1965
75
McNamara Recommends MOL
Program Approval
Having coordinated with all key individuals and
agencies, Dr. Brown and Colonel Battle put the finishing
touches to McNamara’s memo to the President. The
Defense Secretary reviewed the final draft on 24 August,
made several minor language changes, and that
same day carried it over to the White House where he
recommended to the President that they proceed with
MOL project definition beginning in fiscal year 1966. 14
McNamara noted that Congress was currently in
process of appropriating $150 million for the program
(requested the previous January) and that he had
previously indicated he would defer release of funds
until such time as studies of the nature and value of the
problem were satisfactorily completed. These studies, he
told the President, had been completed and—based on
his review of their conclusions—he now recommended
release of the $150 million, initiation of a contract
definition phase, and that the program proceed toward
the following goals:
a. Semi-operational use beginning in
late 1968 to secure photographs of
{better than one foot} resolutions
of significant targets. This is
{significantly} better than the best
satellite photography we are now
obtaining, and {largely} better
than the best U-2 photographs or
the G3 satellite system, now under
development, from which we expect
photographs in about 15 months.
b. Development of high-resolution
optical technology and systems for
either manned or unmanned use. This
technology will provide the {target}
resolution and be aimed at ultimately
even better resolution {than the
initial target resolution}.
c. Provision of a facility for the
development, test and use of other
potential military applications
such as SIGINT collection, radar
observation and ocean surveillance,
as the utility and feasibility of such
applications became established.
d. Provision of an experimental program
for determination of man’s ability in
assembling large structures, and in
adjusting, maintaining and processing
the output from complex military
equipment in space. 15
McNamara recommended that the MOL program be
operated under the NRO security guidelines which
already existed for military space projects. The idea, he
said, was “to help avoid provocation in the international
arena, and to forestall initiation of international action
that might prevent the United States from using satellites
for reconnaissance.” He reported that DoD planned
to pursue a modest and low key public information
program and that the announced mission of MOL would
continue to be expressed solely as “the investigation
and development of orbital capabilities, manned and
unmanned, associated with national defense.”
The Defense Secretary advised the President that
he had received the concurrence of Secretary Rusk,
Admiral Raborn, Dr. Hornig, and Mr. Webb, and that
Vice President Humphrey also endorsed program goahead.
The Director of the Bureau of the Budget, he
reported, had withdrawn his original objection, subject
to a future program reappraisal of costs. McNamara
said further that, in his view, there was a vital national
need for reconnaissance photography with resolutions of
{the planned resolution} or better. He noted that during
the Cuban crisis the United States had made a special
reconnaissance effort “to acquire pictures having the
detail and the credibility that were necessary to verify and
to convince others of the nature of the military activity in
Cuba.” In other future situations, he thought it might be
important to accomplish these same ends. With {target}
resolution, the nation also would be able to assess such
military factors as the {...} nature of various Russian antimissile
deployments. 16
The defense chief advised that he had incorporated
several of Dr. Hornig’s suggestions concerning an
unmanned system and that designs of the new devices
needed for the unmanned operational mode would be
pursued. He said:
It is my intention that the system
will be designed so that it can
operate without a man. It will
operate somewhat differently,
however, (and with improved overall
effectiveness) with a man. Whether
Dr. Hornig met with Dr. Brown on 23 August and the two men agreed
that the Air Force would pursue development of the automatic system
simultaneously with the manned MOL.