RECONNAISSANCE

Satellites

Books

A - K

Arnold, David Christopher. Spying from Space: Constructing America’s Satellite Command and Control Systems. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2005.

Peake, Studies 49.4 (2005), notes that "[w]ithout the ability to control satellites in space, the National Reconnaissance Program could not have succeeded. The AFSCF [Armed Forces Satellite Control Facility] met that need, and David Arnold's story of how they did it is well documented and well told."

For Bailey, cicentre.com, this work "fills an important gap in intelligence history, chronicling the previously classified development of the command and control system for America's reconnaissance satellites.... The evolution of the Air Force satellite command and control system, from a single-user to a complex common-user system, is a story well-told" by the author.

Shaw, Air & Space Power Journal 22.2 (Summer 2008), says the author "has done a spectacular job of weaving previously untapped and unpublished information from Air Force Space Command archives together with interesting and invaluable personal interviews to construct a history of the burgeoning Air Force Satellite Control Facility (forerunner of today’s Air Force Satellite Control Network) from its infancy in the days of Sputnik to its culminating point at the end of 1969."

Baker, John C., Kevin O'Connell, and Ray A. Williamson, eds. Commercial Observation Satellites: At the Leading Edge of Tranparency. Washington, DC: Rand, 2001.

Burrows, William E. Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security. New York: Random House, 1987. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1988. London: Bantam Press, 1988.

Taplin, IJI&C 2.1, argues that, for the most part, "Deep Black is a solidly crafted work -- both stylish and credible.... But, as he closes, Burrows cannot resist pressing his own judgments on the reader." Nonetheless, this is an "accurate description of current and future U.S. space-based technical collection systems.... Burrows' history of the growth of intelligence collection from the sky is so well done that I doubt anyone soon will present it better." He should, however, "more clearly acknowledge that the data base for his confident presentation has become more tenuous than in his earlier chapters."

According to Peake, AIJ 15.2, Burrows covers fixed-wing strategic systems (U-2 and SR-71) and photographic and SIGINT satellites for both the United States and the Soviet Union. "There is much here of interest." This is probably one of the best summaries of these intelligence systems in the public domain, "although that is not to say he has got all the technical detail right.... Deep Black ... gives a better overall summary of the programs than Richelson and is more reader friendly."

For a critical review see Angelo Codevilla, "Ignorance vs. Intelligence," Commentary 83, no. 5 (1987): 76-80.

Davies, Merton E., and William R. Harris. RAND's Role in the Evolution of Balloon and Satellite Observation Systems and Related U.S. Space Technology. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1988. [Petersen]

Day, Dwayne A., John M. Logsdon, and Brian Latell, eds. Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.

This book gets a "highly recommended" from Allen Thomson, via the NMIA Zgram for 30 April 1998. Richelson, IJI&C 11.4, notes that Albert Wheelon's discussion of "the management conflicts [in the development and operation of the Corona system] that he experienced first-hand ... represents an important addition to the literature on the NRO."

Hardy, posted on 17 Apr. 2000 at http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/bookrev/08.html, finds that this book "bombards the reader with many details about the early space-intelligence programs, as well as the politics and challenges of the day. Perspectives and recollections of some of the actual pioneers in the space-intelligence field are combined with fascinating descriptions of the satellites and their out-of-this-world cameras.... Anyone interested in space or military history will be fascinated with this book."

Divine, David A. The Sputnik Challenge: Eisenhower's Response to the Soviet Satellite. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

According to Smith, I&NS 9.4, Divine concludes that "Eisenhower was able to respond in a calm and systematic manner to Sputnik because he had access to intelligence information which led him to conclude that the Soviet satellite did not pose a threat to U.S. national security."

Hough, Harold. Satellite Surveillance. Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited, 1991.

FILS 12.1 sees this brief book (196 pages) as "a beginner's study of space photography.... The author says he has attempted to fill the gap between articles in popular magazines and in professional journals."

Unsinger, IJI&C 7.2, suggests that readers "desiring a crash course ... on satellite surveillance might want to read Hough first." It covers "little more than just the basics," but it is a "quick and thorough book ... at a reasonable price."

Killian, James. Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower: A Memoir of the First Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1978.

Klass, Philip J. Secret Sentries in Space. New York: Random House, 1971.

Clark comment: Consideration of Klass' Secret Sentries must begin with the note that it is very dated today. However, in the 1980s, Pforzheimer viewed it as "an interesting and informative discussion of the development ... of space satellites." And Constantinides called it "a well-written history of the development of various generations of reconnaissance satellites" of the United States and the Soviet Union. He noted, however, that the author showed a "greater knowledge" of the U.S. side.

More recently, Peake, AIJ 15.2, could still designate it a "pioneering book ... based on open sources." Given what he had to work with, "Klass did rather well.... For those wishing to learn how the space satellite program got underway, and what was in the public domain twenty-five years ago, Secret Sentries is the place to start."

Krepon, Michael, ed. Commercial Observation Satellites and International Security. New York: St, Martin's, 1990.

According to Petersen, this book "[d]eals in part with intelligence matters."

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