reservation that any agreements affecting satellites should not overcommit the US to furnishing data from such satellites to other nations and should not affect the operation of military satellites. With the Eisenhower administration gone, the Air Force was out to stop any resurrection of the concept of sharing the fruits of aerial reconnaissance as originally embodied in Eisenhower's "open skies" proposal. The Air Force as well as the Joint Staff expressed reservations regarding the Department of State definition for outer space. The consequences of adopting such a definition have not as yet been fully explored; and that a rigid definition of outer space should not be attempted prior to a detailed evaluation by all agencies concerned of possible consequences of such a definition to the US and its allies. The proposed definition would establish a space floor which might at some future date be lower than the capabilities of very high flying aircraft.[1]
The DOD position paper recommended that its reservations be pointed out, that DOD and State further study these reservations, and that the US issue a public statement on outer space at the UN. DOD advocated that any formal resolution be deferred.
In a memorandum summarizing his telephone conversation with Richard Gardner (deputy assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs), William P. Bundy (acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs) noted that State had agreed to the DOD position regarding the definition of "outer space." Bundy gave DOD clearance on State's proposal with the understanding that State would proceed carefully in negotiations resulting from the resolution. According to a handwritten note by Howard E. Hensleigh (acting DOD assistant general counsel for international affairs), Professor Lipson of RAND had "critical reservations about the [Richard] Gardner approach," that is, having the United States even engage in such discussions. Bundy wrote to Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs George W. Ball, stating that "we should not define the limits of outer space." Hensleigh provided a copy of the letter to Vance. The Air Force JAG was apprised later that State had decided that efforts to define outer space were premature. However, State requested a briefing from DOD on the "technical developments bearing on the definition of outer space."
Subsequently, the State Department announced the language of its resolution regarding outer space; it did not include a definition for outer
- ↑ DOD Planning Luncheon, paper, United States Initiative at the 16th General Assembly, 12 September 1961, 3.
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