THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  February 24, 1995

			    EXECUTIVE ORDER
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	       RELEASE OF IMAGERY ACQUIRED BY SPACE-BASED
	      NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS

     By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States of America and in order to release certain
scientifically or environmentally useful imagery acquired by space-based
national intelligence reconnaissance systems, consistent with the
national security, it is hereby ordered as follows:

     Section 1. Public Release of Historical Intelligence Imagery.
Imagery acquired by the space-based national intelligence reconnaissance
systems known as the Corona, Argon, and Lanyard missions shall, within
18 months of the date of this order, be declassified and transferred to
the National Archives and Records Administration with a copy sent to the
United States Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior
consistent with procedures approved by the Director of Central
Intelligence and the Archivist of the United States.  Upon transfer,
such imagery shall be deemed declassified and shall be made available to
the public.

     Sec. 2. Review for Future Public Release of Intelligence Imagery.
(a) All information that meets the criteria in section 2(b) of this
order shall be kept secret in the interests of national defense and
foreign policy until deemed otherwise by the Director of Central
Intelligence.  In consultation with the Secretaries of State and
Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence shall establish a
comprehensive program for the periodic review of imagery from systems
other than the Corona, Argon, and Lanyard missions, with the objective
of making available to the public as much imagery as possible consistent
with the interests of national defense and foreign policy.  For imagery
from obsolete broad-area film-return systems other than Corona, Argon,
and Lanyard missions, this review shall be completed within 5 years of
the date of this order.  Review of imagery from any other system that
the Director of Central Intelligence deems to be obsolete shall be
accomplished according to a timetable established by the Director of
Central Intelligence.  The Director of Central Intelligence shall report
annually to the President on the implementation of this order.

     (b) The criteria referred to in section 2(a) of this order consist
of the following: imagery acquired by a space-based national
intelligence reconnaissance system other than the Corona, Argon, and
Lanyard missions.

     Sec.  3. General Provisions. (a) This order prescribes a
comprehensive and exclusive system for the public release of imagery
acquired by space-based national intelligence reconnaissance systems.
This order is the exclusive Executive order governing the public release
of imagery for purposes of section 552(b)(1) of the Freedom of
Information Act.

     (b) Nothing contained in this order shall create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party against the
United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or
employees, or any other person.

     Sec.  4. Definition.  As used herein, "imagery" means the product
acquired by space-based national intelligence reconnaissance systems
that provides a likeness or representation of any natural or man-made
feature or related objective or activities and satellite positional data
acquired at the same time the likeness or representation was acquired.

   WILLIAM J. CLINTON

   THE WHITE HOUSE,
   February 22, 1995.


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