1974 Skylab photograph / Area 51 Incident

maquiladora

In January 2006 aviation journalist Dwayne Day published an article in online aerospace magazine The Space Review entitled "Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident." The article was based around a recently declassified memo written in 1974 to CIA director William Colby by an unknown CIA official. The memo reported that astronauts on board Skylab 4 had, as part of larger program, inadvertently photographed a location of which the memo said "There were specific instructions not to do this. <redacted> was the only location which had such an instruction." Although the name of the location was obscured, the context led Day to believe that the subject was Groom Lake. In other words, the CIA considered no other spot on Earth to be as sensitive as Groom Lake, and the astronauts had just taken a picture of it.

The memo details debate between federal agencies regarding whether the images should (or indeed could) be classified, with Department of Defense agencies arguing that it should and NASA and the State Department arguing against classification. The memo itself questions whether it was legal for images obtained by an unclassified program to be retroactively classified.

Remarks on the memo, handwritten apparently by DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) Colby himself, read:

He did raise it - said State Dept. people felt strongly. But he inclined leave decision to me (DCI) - I confessed some question over need to protect since:

USSR has it from own sats

What really does it reveal?

If exposed, don't we just say classified USAF work is done there?

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/531/1