4
THE SAMSON OPTION
lies in an effort to shield the superb resolution of the KH-ll's optics.* It was a significant triumph for the Israeli government, which had been seeking access to the KH-11 since the moment of launch three years before. Jimmy Carter's decision to pro vide that high-tech imagery was suspected by some American intelligence officials as being a reward for Prime Minister Menachem Begin's successful Camp David summit with Egyp tian President Anwar Sadat the year before. These officials un derstood what many in the White House did not: adding an Israeli dimension to the system was a major commitment—and one that would interfere with the KH-ll's ability to collect the intelligence its managers wanted. The KH-11 was the most im portant advance of its time, explained a former official of the National Security Agency (NSA), the unit responsible for all communications intelligence, and every military and civilian intelligence agency in the government seemed to have an ur gent requirement for it. The goal of the KH-ll's managers was to carefully plan and "prioritize" the satellite's schedule to get it to the right place at the right time, while avoiding any abrupt shifts in its flight path or any sudden maneuver that would burn excess fuel. With good management, the multimillion-dol lar satellite, with its limited fuel supply, would be able to stay longer in orbit, provide more intelligence, and be more costefficient. Carter's decision to give Israel direct access to the KH-11 completely disrupted the careful scheduling for the satellite's future use; it also meant that some American intelli
gence agencies were going to have less access to the satellite. "It was an unpopular decision in many, many ways," said the for mer NSA official.
There were no official protests inside the administration, however: those few who were distressed by the KH-11 agree ment understood that any disquiet, or even second-guessing, * The KH-11 was at the time known to be the most significant advance in outerspace reconnaissance. The key element of the sixty-four-foot-long satellite was a down ward-looking mirror in front of the camera that rotated from side to side, like a peri scope, enabling the satellite to track a single location as it moved across the atmosphere. The result was a stereoscopic image of unusually high quality that could be even further enhanced by computer.