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Appendix
A
List
of Recommendations
Overall
Finding and Conclusion
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The Commission
concludes that the National Reconnaissance Office demands the
personal attention of the President of the United States, the
Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence.
It must remain a strong, separate activity, with a focus on innovation,
within the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense.
Failure to understand and support the indispensable nature of
the NRO as the source of innovative new space-based intelligence
collection systems will result in significant intelligence failures.
These failures will have a direct influence on strategic choices
facing the nation and will strongly affect the ability of U.S.
military commanders to win decisively on the battlefield.
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The
Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence must
direct that the NRO mission be updated and focused as a first
priority on the development, acquisition and operation of highly
advanced technology for space reconnaissance systems and supporting
space-related intelligence activities, in accordance with current
law.
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The
Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence should
determine the proper roles for the NRO, National Security Agency,
National Imagery and Mapping Agency, and Central MASINT Organization
in Tasking, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination activities.
NRO Technological
Innovation
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The
President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense and
the Director of Central Intelligence must pay close attention
to the level of funding and support for the NRO Director's research,
development and acquisition effort.
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The
Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence should
ensure common understanding of the NRO's current and future
capabilities and the application of its technology to satisfy
the needs of its mission partners and customers.
Office
of Space Reconnaissance
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The
Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence
should establish a new Office of Space Reconnaissance under
the direction of the Director of the NRO. The Office should
have special acquisition authorities, be staffed by experienced
military and CIA personnel, have a budget separate from other
agencies and activities within the National Foreign Intelligence
Program, be protected by a special security compartment, and
operate under the personal direction of the President, Secretary
of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence.
The
Secretary of Defense--Director of Central Intelligence Relationship
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The
President must take direct responsibility to ensure that the
Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence relationship
regarding the management of the NRO is functioning effectively.
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The
President should direct the development of a contemporary statement
defining the relationship between the Secretary of Defense and
Director of Central Intelligence with regard to their management
of the NRO.
Balanced
Response to Customer Demands
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The
Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence
must work closely together to ensure that proper attention is
focused on achieving the appropriate balance between strategic
and tactical requirements for NRO systems, present and future.
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The
Presidential Decision Directive (PDD-35) that establishes priorities
for intelligence collection should be reviewed to determine
whether it has been properly applied and should remain in effect
or be revised.
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The
imagery intelligence and signals intelligence requirements committees
should be returned to the Director of Central Intelligence in
order to ensure that the appropriate balance and priority of
requirements is achieved each day.
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The
Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence should
undertake an educational effort to ensure that Intelligence
Community members and customers are properly trained in the
requirements process, the cost of NRO support, and in their
responsibilities in requesting NRO support.
Defense
Space Reconnaissance Program (DSRP)
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The
Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of Central
Intelligence, should re-establish the Defense Space Reconnaissance
Program as a means of funding tactical military requirements
for NRO systems and architectures.
Increased
Resource and Budgetary Flexibility
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The
Director of Central Intelligence should be granted greater latitude
to redirect funds among intelligence collection activities and
agencies in order to respond most effectively to the specific
types of issues that arise in NRO programs.
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Transfers
greater than $10 million would continue to require the concurrence
of the affected Secretary or agency head. This could be coupled
with a provision to allow a Secretary or agency head who has
objections to such transfers the opportunity to appeal the Director
of Central Intelligence's decision to the President.
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The
requirement that such transfers be made known to the appropriate
congressional committees should not be altered.
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The
Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence
should jointly establish NRO career paths to ensure that a highly
skilled and experienced NRO workforce is continued and sustained.
Increased
Launch Program Risks
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The
NRO Director, with the support of the Air Force Materiel Command
and Space and Missile Systems Center, should develop a contingency
plan for each NRO program or set of programs. These plans should
describe risks, contingency options and failure mitigation plans
to minimize satellite system problems that might result from
satellite or launch vehicle failures.
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The
Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence should
establish independent teams to conduct pre-launch assessments
of non-traditional areas of risk. These teams should be made
up of recognized space launch experts and be granted whatever
special authorities and accesses are required to perform their
duties.
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The
Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management
and Organization should evaluate the need for an improved organization
structure to provide launch capability and operations for the
deployment and replenishment of NRO and DoD satellites.
Commercial
Satellite Imagery
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A clear
national strategy that takes full advantage of the capabilities
of the U.S. commercial satellite imagery industry must be developed
by the President, Secretary of Defense and Director of Central
Intelligence.
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The
strategy must contain a realistic execution plan--with timelines,
a commitment of the necessary resources and sound estimates
of future funding levels.
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The
strategy also should remove the current fiscal disincentives
that discourage use of commercial imagery when it is technically
sufficient to meet user needs.
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The
NRO should work with NIMA to develop a new acquisition model
for commercial imagery that will help create the predictable
market necessary for the industry to become a reliable supplier
to the U.S. Government. The acquisition model should include
provisions for the pricing of imagery to the user from either
the commercial or Government sources that reflect the cost of
acquiring such images to the U.S. Government.
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The
Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence
should develop a strategy that recognizes the threat posed to
the United States by the likely availability of commercial space
imagery to opponents of the United States.
NRO
Airborne Reconnaissance Responsibilities
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The
NRO should participate jointly with other agencies and departments
in strategic airborne reconnaissance development. Specifically,
the NRO should supply system engineering capabilities and transfer
space system technologies to airborne applications.
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