Declassifications Great

Leap Forward

CORONA and the

Intelligence Community

Kevin C. Ruffner
On 24

May 1995,

CIAs

Center for

of

Study Intelligence (CSI)

a day-and-a-half conference
on satellite intelligence at George
Washington University. Cospon
sored with GWUs Space Policy
Institute, the conferenceentitled
Piercing the Curtain: CORONA

classified National Reconnaissance

con

other elements of the

marked

in CIAs

efforts

information

protection

no

then

we

owe

it

to our

citizens

to

to

disclose

significant event
to provide more
the American public.
a

as

much of that information

few

anticipated

with the

problems

conference. As with other CSI

events,

such

as

the Cuban missile cri

conferences, the

sis and Truman

Three years earlier, Director of Cen

tral Intelligence (DCI) Robert Gates
launched CIAs

duties.

expanded
becoming

Shortly

releasing

to

examine the

satellite

feasibility
imagery.

to

publish

an

edited book of declassified docu

CSI also

expected

to

release

The

CIA film, A Point in Time:

Stoiy, which the Agency

produced shortly after the pro

CORONA

DCI, Gates formed

the Classification Review Task Force

(CRTF)

History Staff planned

ments.

openness program

CSIs

and

after

work hard

the then-

Office (NRO) and the Central Imag

ery Office (Gb), the working group

of

certain information is

longer required,

to

Intelligence

Community (IC), including

and the Revolution in Intelli

gence

Development

(ORD), the National Photographic

Interpretation Center (NPIC), and

cluded

when

from CSI, the Office

representatives

of Research and

the

of

as we can

had

gram closed in 1972.

CSI moved ahead with the confer

R.

~9

James Woolsey,

Gates

as

who succeeded

predecessors

initiatives.

In

Septem

ber of that year, Woolsey informed

the House Permanent Select Com
mittee

on

Intelligence

protection of certain
no

longer required,

our

citizens

to

INT

we owe

to

it

to

disclose

much of that information as we

can, consistent with our mission
Even before Wool
warts and all.
as

seys testimony

on

Capitol Hill, CSI

Director David D. Gries had made

plans to hold a conference on satel

lite intelligence. The end of the
Cold War had spurred interest in sat
ellites and their possible use for

in the Directorate

Operations

of Science and

information is

then

group held

former director of the Office of SIG

that when

work hard

planning, and the working

monthly meetings.
David Doyle, a newly retired NPIC
officer, and A. Roy Burks, the
ence

DCI in 1993, continued his

Technology (DS&T),

prepared invitation lists and orga

nized the overall conference program
and

speakers.

CIAs
on

As

historian with

History Staff,

I concentrated

gathering original

documents for

the book. Robert A. McDonald, an

NRO officer, and two officials from
CIO contributed
group

the

working
by providing updates on the
to

declassification efforts within the IC.

environmental and other studies.

Declassification Problems

working group for the

satellite intelligence conference met
in July 1993, Gries expected to hold
it in February 1994. Composed of
When CSIs

Kevin C. Ruffner is

History

Staff.

on

CIAs

Declassification

proved

to

be the

difficult aspect of the entire

conference. By early 1994, the
most

61

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Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18

CORONA

If the IC released

information and
on

CRTF, composed of representatives

from offices within the IC, recom
mended the release of

imagery

from

the CORONA, ARGON, and LAN

YARD satellite systems. These
satellites, also known as KEYHOLE
(KH) 1, 2, 3, 4, 4A, 4B, 5, and 6,
the first US reconnaissance sat
ellites; they were used between 1960
and 1972, and they had long been

KH

imagery

1-6, could it still

protect later systems,

technology, imagery, and

intelligence reports?

posed no threat to national security.

Spurred by Congressional interest
and an interagency Environmental
Task Force, the CRTF advocated the
full release of the imagery, over
whelmingly from the CORONA
system,

to a

public repository.

The CRTFs recommendations

raised a number of questions within
the IC during the first months of
1994. For example, how should the
United States acknowledge the fact
that it took

photographs of coun
friendly and hostile, for

tries, both
decades? Likewise, various Commu
nity members expressed concern that
satellites took photographs of the
United States because this raised the
specter of domestic spying. The
declassification of satellite imagery
also invariably meant that its technol
ogy, both of the cameras and the
satellites themselves, would also be
released

to

the

public.

A number of other

seemingly insur
problems confronted the

mountable
advocates of declassification. The
release of the imagery required the
concurrence of the entire IC and
obtaining this permission took time.

similarly would have to

change a number of regulations,

The IC

rity control measures, and

international handling guidelines to
reflect the declassification of KH 1-6.
Perhaps the most perplexing issue,

62

mission in 1960

(the public

covername

CORONA

flights).

and

group, now headed up the

NRO effort with Air Force Col. Phil

working

Datema. The NRO, in

that haunted the entire

one

for the first

Robert A.

McDonald, who had helped CSIs

with the National

were

obsolete. The CRTF determined

that the release of KH 1-6 imagery

DISCOVERER

CORONA conference, centered on

implications of this declassifica

the

tion and release for future Freedom

and Information Act (FOIA) requests

from the public. If the IC released

information and imagery on KH 1-6,

could it still protect later systems,

technology, imagery,
reports?

and

conjunction
Space Club, sepa

rately planned to host a large

gathering at the Smithsonians Air
and Space Museum in Washington,
DC, in May 1995. The NRO and
CSI frequently consulted, however,
and, as it turned out, the commemo
ration and the conference

complemented

each other.

intelligence
Vice Presidential Invo!vement

The FOIA question eventually

delayed both CORONAs declassifi
cation and CSIs conference. By

June 1994, the conference, which

had reached the final

planning
lay dead in the water. After
reviewing the overall declassification
packet, IC attorneys advised that the

The NRO, like CSI, still faced the

overall problem 0f declassification.
Until President Clinton actually
declassified the very existence of
CORONA, the IC could do little in
of hosting conferences,

stages,

terms

DCI could not authorize the declassi

fication of any satellite system. Only

memorations, or publishing articles

and books. Vice President Gore,
~ho as a senator had been a leading
proponent of the study of the envi
ronment, now took up the
CORONA issue in the White

the President of the United States

could make this decision; conse

quently,

the decision

CORONA moved
House. While the
over

the fine

continued

to

to

declassif~r

the White
lawyers mulled
to

of the law, ORD

collect all KH 1-6 imag

points

ery and technical aids from NPIC

and other sources.

Splitting

House.

it from the

25-year declassification

under consideration, the Vice Presi

pushed for an separate executive
order that solely covered CORONA

imagery.
On 24

Participation

In the fall of 1994, a new player

entered the scene. The NRO, which

had

only recently

come

out

cold, expressed its interest

ating with
host

the National

of the

in cooper

Space

Club

35th anniversary commem

oration of the first successful
to

general

order then

dent

February

1995, the Vice Presi

dent visited CIAs

NRO

com

Headquarters,

where he announced Executive

Order 12951. This order, signed by
President Clinton two days earlier,
released CORONA, ARGON, and
LANYARD imagery (over 2 million
linear feet with some 800,000 photo

graphs)

over

the

next

18 months

to

the National Archives and the US

Geological Survey.

The order also

CORONA

stipulated

that all the

imagery would
immediately upon

be declassified

transfer and be made available to the

public. The President also called for
the review of other satellite systems
for possible declassification by the
DCI.

At the

announcement

of the

execu

tive order, Vice President Gore

the value of the satellite

recognized

Satellite

imagery.
said, gave
sue arms

us

he

coverage,

the confidence

to

pur

agreem~nts

control

agreements that eventually led to dra

matic decreases in the number of
nuclear weapons and their delivery
He also observed that

systems.

ellites recorded

much

sat

1960,
the

news

tion in

Times, for example, carried

of CORONAs declassifica
front page banner article.
ADCI Stude

At CIA

Headquarters,
man informed the public that CSI
planned a major conference in May
1995 to discuss the development of
CORONA, its use by the IC, and
the impact that satellites had on intel
ligence and US foreign policy. This
publicity generated a large volume of
telephone calls to the Center for fur
ther information about the
conference.

Racing

dinator, and David Doyle, the

the declassific~ation ceremony.

These satellite systems, he

CSI

now,

but in

their time

pivotal

had less than three months

now

to

retired NPIC officer

back

now

as a

conference

planner,
plans from

dusted off the

Centers

the

spring.

As the editor

of CORONA doc

publication

uments, I

previous
of the History

and other members of the

debate the role and mission of intelli

History Staff faced the task of get

ting the book published in time for
the 23 May conference date. The

gence in the

NRO, in the meantime, prepared for

in

our

they played

national

security.

As

role

we

century, it is
understand how the

next

important to
images sent back by
lites altered

our

these

early

satel

view of the world

during the Cold War and how satel

lite imagery continues to shape our
world view today.

or

addition

the National

Club

Space

ference

by restoring

and

the

event at

Smithsonian and assisted CSIs

con

declassifying

the film, A Point in Time.

been

images, including

picture

first successful CORONA

from the

flight

in

two

planned

articles for the Journal of

the release of any textual information

on CORONA.

case, no

formal system existed

an ad hoc team of
declassification experts met over the
course of two weeks in March 1995
to conduct a line-by-line review of

History Staff publication.

won

with the

signing

executive order in late

not

of the

February.

ident Clintons-decision

covered

Pres

only

CORONA, ARGON, and LAN

YARD

These doc

primarily memorandums
the early Committee on Over

uments,

from

head Reconnaissance in 1960 and

intelligence reports from

various

CORONA,

from scattered

came

NPIC files. One

lengthy article,

the

first

history ofthe CORONA pro

gram, had been published in a topsecret

supplement

gencein

to

Studies in Intelli

1973.

The documents themselves

posed

imagery (the

terms

an

dilemma for the ad hoc

declassification group. The mem

interesting

bers, all of whom had experience

with

general

declassification

policies

satellites. Some documents

con

tained codewords, cover details,

financial information, and human

The declassification battle had

The declassification ceremony and

the release of four early. CORONA

write

Photogrammetric Engineering and

Remote Sensing, and we both needed
the DCIs personal approval before

to

Publicity

my book of CORONA

and FOIA requests, had never

released any information pertaining

An Arduous Task

Positive

to

documents, Bob McDonald

to

imagery

any other mission-related data. In

the documents I had selected for the

the other arrangements. Carole

Minor, the Centers Academic Coor

Staffs

remarked, are obsolete

reports derived from KH 1-6

CIO, and NRO,

the Clock

country on .this Earth launched any

Earth resource satellites.

at

also subse

declassify CORONA material.

Working with the DS&T, NPIC,

organize a major conference,

schedule speakers, and make all

spoke

were

quently declassified). The order, for

example, did not apply to intelligence

to

of the Cold War. In the

of
acquiring this priceless
process
data, we recorded for future genera
tions the environmental history of
the Earth at least a decade before any

DCI Studeman also

and KEYHOLE

In my

than the

more

landscape

Acting

The

was an enormous success.

New York

TALENT

or

dis
cussed targets in sensitive areas of the
world. While the executive order
authorized the release of CORONA
imagery, U-2 photographs and intel
ligence reports still remained
communications

intelligence,

or

63

CORONA

Soviet Airfield

64

(first image),

18

August 1960

CORONA

Aral Sea, 29 Auqust 1962

---~o

65

CORONA

Soviet

Long-~an~e Aviation AirfieHd, 20 August 1966

U;

.j

I1~i

4.

~,

ii~~
~i
1:

g~
1~ 11

.u ~

Fl~

4.

U
I

~F

IF

r~1

H~IF
I
TI]

~
4

~ifjh.
I

U
~IF

;IF

~I

1
I

66

i~ ~i~i~h pg~ii.~~ j I~ 1I~kglld ~ ~h

hi ~ ~ ii~~i t;

..

CORONA

Klyuchevskaya Volcano,

24 November 1962

67

CORONA

...the release of this

material would mark
classified.

the ad hoc

Consequently,

committee members consulted with

declassification authorities
IC

agencies, including

significant step forward in

the Agencys efforts at

other

openness...

Depart

of State, the Air Force, and the

ment

National
ers

the

at

Group

Review

Security Agency.

with CSIs

gences

By mid-April, the ad hoc committee

completed its review, and I now
faced the task of sanitizing
or mark
ing out the portions of the
documents that required continued
classification. I also had to line out
all the old classification headers
and footers,
a massive amount of

America

Program did
the Office of Current

First Satellite

arrive

not

at

Agencys
still

(CPAS) until

Analytical Support
early Mayonly three

weeks before the conference date.

sent

the

complete pack

inadvertently

deleted

or

left

time, J. Kenneth
retiring Chief Histo
rian; Kay Oliver, the newly assigned
Chief Historian; Diane Marvin, the
History Staffs editor; and I reviewed
the text of the book and prepared the
entire manuscript for publication.
out.

At the

same

McDonald, the

While the CIA has

rial and
its

own

an

effective edito

publications staff, including

printing plant, it still
sufficient lead time

to pre
requires
pare a manuscript for publication.
Normally, the Agency prefers to have
two

months

to

edit

document, pre

pare the page layout, and print a

book before its actual release date.
In CORONAs

Staff did

not

case,

the

Just

History Staff grappled

getting the text to the editors,

as

with

book

the

it

68

text

and the redacted

documents)

get the green

light

to

supported

position and approved

on

the

the

May, thereby allowing

and

to

He also

ing

of

completed

over a

CORONA

(DDS&T), whose office owned

original

records.

to

the

Printing

dozen

work

on

the fram

poster-size

images for the confer

Carole Minor and her new

staff member, Mary Burns, handled

last-minute coordination matters
with John Logsdon, director of
GWIJs

approval was sought for

declassification and publication of
the entire volume. On 24 April,

Brian Latell, who had become Direc

tor of CSI in October 1994,

On 23

Finally,

send it

waited for its book, Dave Doyle con

tacted speakers for the conference.

ence.

the

the

and Photographic Group (P&PG)

for printing. While the History Staff

Counsel and the

for Science and

by the General
Deputy Director
Technology

script

underwent reviews

Space Policy

Institute.

DCI

Splendid Day
May

all the many

pieces fell

submitted the entire package of docu

ments and a cover memorandum to

into

the

Satellite Program to the conference

attendees despite a last-minute print
ing glitch that both CPAS and

Acting

DCI

recommending

the

declassification of the material and

its

publication

in time for the Cen

ters conference

on

CORONA.

History

with the manuscript until

the end of February. By the time the
ad hoc group finished its work, more
than a month had passed. Conse
quently, the draft of CORONA:

proceed

DCI Studeman

legitimate
and methods.

editors and designers at CPAS to

complete their work on the manu

its

point,
to

protect

CIAs

sources

declassification of the CORONA

High-Level Reviewing

been

that

to

Centers

the ad hoc committee

age
members to ensure that nothing had

some

safeguarding

need

Acting

also battled for the declassification of

the book at the highest levels of
CIAs structure. Following the
advice of the Agencys Office of Gen
eral Counsel, the entire book (both

considering that there were

350 pages of documents. After

work

step forward in the

efforts at openness, while

significant
Production and

had

con

Latell demonstrated that the

release of this material would mark
trast,

and the Directorate of Intelli

CORONA declassification effort.

experts, persuaded senior Agency offi

cials that the release of this material
would neither damage national secu
rity nor set a bad precedent for

future declassification issues. In

Historical Review

Collection Requirements and

Evaluation Staff also supported the

of several declassification

tance

As the

package made its way through

Agency, concerns about the

place. CSI distributed 600 cop

ies of CORONA: America ~ First

P&PG

quickly

resolved. The film, A

Point in Time, made its public debut

on the morning of the first day of

for future FOIA requests once again

nagged CSI. Almost at the 11th

the conference and met with rave

reviews. The new DCI, John
Deutch, opened the conference and
expressed his strong support for

hour, Latell, with the timely

openness and CSIs

the

declassification and the ramifications

assis

undertakings.

CORONA

More than 500

people attended the

sessions, including numerous media
and feedback from

representatives,

the audience demonstrated the wide

interest in the overall

spread

satellite

topic of

The NROs

intelligence.

col

laborative efforts with the National

Club also achieved

Space

crowning
Headquarters
and the National Air and Space
Museum on 24 May.
success

both

at

CIA

Need for Persistence

While the CORONA conference is

now

way

US

history

and the

imagery

is

its

on

the National Archives and the

to

the battle for

Geological Survey,

full declassification is

not

The American

learned

public

finished.

about satellite reconnaissance

and 24

during

more

23

on

1995 than it had known

May
previous

the

35 years. Arti

cles, books, and television

documentaries

ing

this

incorporat

are now

information about

new

CORONA, while the IC looks

declassification of related
such

as

U-2

at

the

topics,

imagery.

Albert D. Wheelon, the first

DDS&T, perhaps expressed it best

the CSI conference.

Talking

the trials and tribulations

enced

by

the CORONA

Wheelon noted that the

of CORONA is

to

be

at

about

experi
pioneers,
main lesson

persistent.

The declassification of CORONA

has also been

lesson in

persistence.

It took 35 years and the end of the

Cold War to bring about

CORONAs
Thanks

to

release

to

the

public.

persistence throughout

the IC, CORONA resulted in one of

the largest declassification projects in
American

history.

69