Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXVIII, Part 2, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; Public Diplomacy, 1973–1976

180. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the Chairman of the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee (Ingersoll)¹

Washington, July 15, 1975.

SUBJECT

• Establishment of a Standing Committee on Space Policy

The President has directed that a standing committee of the Under Secretaries Committee be established to address issues connected with our national space policy as it relates to the civil/military interface.

The committee should review the relationship between civil and intelligence space programs, the military significance of certain civil space programs, and any relevant international considerations. The committee should propose for the President’s consideration appropriate new policies or changes to existing policies, and be a forum for the interpretation and implementation of such policies.

The membership of the committee should include the members of the Under Secretaries Committee augmented by representatives of NASA, NRO, OMB, the President’s Science Adviser, and other agencies as appropriate to the particular issue under consideration. The committee should be chaired by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

DOD and NASA have requested that at an early opportunity the committee examine the international political considerations of remote earth sensing, the protection of sensitive space technology, and the public release of space data and information.²

Henry A. Kissinger

1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, Box 72, NSC–U/SM–157, Standing Committee on Space Policy. Top Secret; Codeword. Copies were sent to the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of NASA, the Director of OMB, and the President’s Science Adviser. Also published as Document 112, Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. E–3, Documents on Global Issues, 1973–1976.
2. The organization and management of these space programs became a sensitive issue for both the Defense Department and NASA. A memorandum to Scowcroft from Leon Sloss, Chairman of the Working Group of the Standing Committee on Space Policy (SPC), November 21, outlined the two agencies’ objections to a proposed SPC study of earth-sensing programs. Recognizing the agencies’ fears of diminished influence over the programs, especially as they related to intelligence, Sloss recommended that the SPC refrain from any organizational studies until the completion of the intelligence community reorganization. The memorandum is published as Document 118, ibid. On November 9, 1976, the SPC sent Ford a report with recommendations concerning remote earth imagery policy (Document 138, ibid.).