Office of the Historian

230. Agreement Between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense1

Washington, August 11, 1965.

AGREEMENT FOR REORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE PROGRAM

A. The National Reconnaissance Program

1.
The NRP is a single program, national in character, to meet the intelligence needs of the Government under a strong national leadership, for the development, management, control and operation of all projects, both current and long range for the collection of intelligence [Page 507] and of mapping and geodetic information obtained through overflights (excluding peripheral reconnaissance operations). The potentialities of U.S. technology and all operational resources and facilities must be aggressively and imaginatively exploited to develop and operate systems for the collection of intelligence which are fully responsive to the Government’s intelligence needs and objectives.
2.
The National Reconnaissance Program shall be responsive directly and solely to the intelligence collection requirements and priorities established by the United States Intelligence Board. Targeting requirements and priorities and desired frequency of coverage of both satellite and manned aircraft missions over denied areas shall continue to be the responsibility of USIB, subject to the operational approval of the 303 Committee.

B. The Secretary of Defense will:

1.
Establish the NRO as a separate agency of the DoD and will have the ultimate responsibility for the management and operation of the NRO and the NRP;
2.
Choose a Director of the NRO who will report to him and be responsive to his instructions;
3.
Concur in the choice of the Deputy Director of the NRO who will report to the DNRO and be responsive to his instructions;
4.
Review and have the final power to approve the NRP budget;
5.
Sit with members of the Executive Committee, when necessary, to reach decisions on issues on which committee agreement could not be reached.

C. The Director of Central Intelligence will:2

1.
Establish the collection priorities and requirements for the targeting of NRP operations and the establishment of their frequency of coverage;
2.
Review the results obtained by the NRP and recommend, if appropriate, steps for improving such results;
3.
Sit as a member of the Executive Committee;
4.
Review and approve the NRP budget each year;
5.
Provide security policy guidance to maintain a uniform system in the whole NRP area.
[Page 508]

D. National Reconnaissance Program Executive Committee

1.
An NRP Executive Committee, consisting of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, is hereby established to guide and participate in the formulation of the NRP through the DNRO.3 (The DNRO will sit with the Executive Committee but will not be a voting member.) If the Executive Committee can not agree on an issue the Secretary of Defense will be requested to sit with the Committee in discussing this issue and will arrive at a decision. The NRP Executive Committee will:
a.
Recommend to the Secretary of Defense an appropriate level of effort for the NRP in response to reconnaissance requirements provided by USIB and in the light of technical capabilities and fiscal limitations.
b.
Approve or modify the consolidated National Reconnaissance Program and its budget.
c.
Approve the allocation of responsibility and the corresponding funds for research and exploratory development for new systems. Funds shall be adequate to ensure that a vigorous research and exploratory development effort is achieved and maintained by the Department of Defense and CIA to design and construct new sensors to meet intelligence requirements aimed at the acquisition of intelligence data. This effort shall be carried out by both CIA and DoD.
d.
Approve the allocation of development responsibilities and the corresponding funds for specific reconnaissance programs with a view to ensuring that the development, testing and production of new systems is accomplished with maximum efficiency by the component of the Government best equipped with facilities, experience and technical competence to undertake the assignment. It will also establish guidelines for collaboration between departments and for mutual support where appropriate. Assignment of responsibility for engineering development of sensor subsystems will be made to either the CIA or the DoD components in accordance with the above criteria. The engineering development of all other subsystems, including spacecraft, reentry vehicles, boosters and booster interface subsystems shall in general be assigned to an Air Force component, recognizing, however, that sensors, spacecraft and reentry vehicles are integral components of a sys tem, [Page 509] the development of which must proceed on a fully coordinated basis, with a view to ensuring optimum system development in support of intelligence requirements for overhead reconnaissance. To optimize the primary objective of systems development, design requirement of the sensors will be given priority in their integration within the spacecraft and reentry vehicles.
e.
Assign operational responsibility for various types of manned overflight missions to the CIA or DoD subject to the concurrence of the 303 Committee.
f.
Periodically review the essential features of the major program elements of the NRP.
2.
The Executive Committee shall meet on the call of either the Deputy Secretary of Defense or the Director of Central Intelligence. All meetings will be attended by the DNRO and such staff advisors as the Deputy Secretary of Defense or the Director the Central Intelligence consider desirable.

E. National Reconnaissance Office

1.
To implement the NRP, the Secretary of Defense will establish the NRO as a separate operating agency of the DoD. It shall include the SOC which shall be jointly manned.
2.
The Director of the NRO shall be appointed by the Secretary of Defense. The Director of NRO will:
a.
Subject to direction and control of the Secretary of Defense and the guidance of the Executive Committee as set forth in Section D above, have the responsibility for managing the NRO and executing the NRP.
b.
Subject to review by the Executive Committee, and the provisions of Section D above, have authority to initiate, approve, modify, redirect or terminate all research and development programs in the NRP. Ensure, through appropriate recommendations to the Executive Committee for the assignment of research and development responsibilities and the allocation of funds, that the full potentialities of agencies of the Government concerned with reconnaissance are realized for the invention, improvement and development of reconnaissance systems to meet USIB requirements.
c.
Have authority to require that he be kept fully and completely informed by all Agencies and Departments of the Government of all programs and activities undertaken as part of the NRP.
d.
Maintain and provide to the members of the Executive Committee records of the status of all projects, programs and activities of the NRP in the research, development, production and/or operational phases.
e.
Prepare a comprehensive budget for all aspects of the National Reconnaissance Program.
f.
Establish a fiscal control and accounting procedure to ensure that all funds expended in support of the National Reconnaissance Program are fully accounted for and appropriately utilized by the agencies concerned. In particular, the budget shall show separately those funds to be applied to research and exploratory design development, systems development, procurement, and operational activities. Funds expended or obligated under the authority of the Director of Central Intelligence under Public Law 110 shall be administered and accounted for by CIA and will be reported to DNRO in accordance with agreed upon procedures.
g.
Sit with the USIB for the matters affecting the NRP.
3.
The Deputy Director NRO shall be appointed by the DCI with the concurrence of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and shall serve full time in the line position directly under the Director NRO. The Deputy Director shall act for and exercise the powers of the Director, NRO during his absence or disability.
4.
The NRO shall be jointly staffed in such a fashion as to reflect the best talent appropriately available from the CIA, the three military departments and other Government agencies. The NRO staff will report to the DNRO and DDNRO and will maintain no allegiance to the originating agency or Department.

F. Initial Allocation of Program Responsibilities

1. Responsibility for existing programs of the NRP shall be allocated as indicated in Annex A attached hereto.4

  • Cyrus Vance 5
    Deputy Secretary of Defense
  • W. F. Raborn
    Director of Central Intelligence
  1. Source: National Reconnaissance Office, P & A, PA Library, 104–01, DOP (Directives, Orders and Procedures). Top Secret; [codeword not declassified].↩
  2. In an October 1 memorandum, following up the new NRO agreement, Helms informed NRO Director Alexander Flax that CIA’s National Reconnaissance Program activity would now “come to a management focus in the person of a Director of CIA Reconnaissance Programs,” who would report to the Deputy Director for Science and Technology. “This will provide you with a single authoritative point of contact within the CIA for all our programs.” (Ibid., P & A, PA Library, 105–0, Flax (DNRO) Chron File, Miscellaneous)↩
  3. Due to the deterioration in relations between CIA and Air Force representatives to the NRO during 1964, resulting in an impasse in decisionmaking, an Executive Committee was formed during the latter half of 1964. McCone and Vance met in Executive Committee sessions with the CIA Deputy Director for Science and Technology, the Air Force Under Secretary/DNRO, and the DOD Director of Defense Research and Engineering. (Donald Welzenbach, CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office, working paper, 3/18/87 draft, chapter VII, pp. 45–46; National Reconnaissance Office)↩
  4. Attached but not printed.↩
  5. Printed from a copy that indicates Vance and Raborn signed the original.↩