U.S. Military uses of space, 1945–1991

Reviews 361 For those libraries that need access to current congressional information, this service offers a tremendous amount of resources. It is not inexpensive however, so libraries will need to be careful in analyzing the cost/benefit ratio. A very important and valid statement appears early in the W&~ingron Alert manual: “your satisfaction with this congressional tracking system is directly Even an experienced searcher will find linked to your knowledge of how to operate the system.” the first few attempts with this system confusing. Wmlzington Alert recommends intermediate training for all subscribers and so does this reviewer. Once staff is trained, however, this will be an outstanding resource for any library able to subscribe to it. NOTES I, Duncan M. Aldrich, Review of Legi-.S/~rr, Gooernt~enr Puh/ic~rrtion.s Reuie~ University U.S. Military Uses of Space, S. Blanton, Malcolm Byrne, A. Wallace, series technical Archive, 1991. 724 p. Glfide including Guide rend Itzdc_x. 16 (May/June 1989):304-07. RENATA G. COATES Reference Services of California, San Diego LaJolla, CA 92093 USA zyxwvuts 19451991. Jeffrey Richelson, Consultant and Project Director. Thomas Margarita S. Studemeister, and Lisa Thompson, series editors. David editor. Alexandria:Chadwyck-Healey. Inc. and the National Security rrnd Index, $945.00. 708 microfiches, $4.200.00 for entire publication As soon as the technology became available to exploit space for military purposes, the leading nations of the world began to pour money into research and development and operations of a myriad of space-based and space-traversing systems that would provide even a slight edge against a potential opponent. From the very beginning of the Cold War, two important uses immediately came to the fore. The first was the application of orbiting camera platforms for reconnaissance of foreign military installation and industrial facilities. The second was the development of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons for use in the event of war. Additional uses have been added since that time: navigation, communications, guidance and tracking, defensive systems, etc. U.S. Military Usc~s oj Spwe, IY4_5-IYYI is an important reference work that compiles into a usable form some of the key documents associated with this subject during the era of the Cold War. This review will comment on the two parts of the effort, the guide and the microfiche collection of documents. The guide consists of IO main major parts. After a short introduction describing the purpose and methodology of the document collection and dissemination process-many of the documents were declassified and obtained by use of the Freedom of Information Act-and a guide for the use of the index and microfiche set, there follows a series of general sections on the military and space. A general essay by Jeffrey Richelson provides the barest of introductions to the issue of military activities in space and will be useful principally to beginning students. A 4I-page chronology of space activities by the U.S. military is also included, but much of the information contained in it is readily available in more detail elsewhere. and it does not provide a reliable reference to the documents contained in the microfiche collection. A chronological launch listing from 1957 through 1990, an acronyms glossary, a technical terms glossary, a space systems glossary, a biographical directory (called here a names glossary), and an organizations glossary then follow before the actual catalog of documents. Each of these provides important background information useful to researchers working with the microfiche. The heart of the Guide crnd Index is the catalog of 708 documents. Each entry contains a document number assigned by the series editors and keyed to a microfiche in the collection. It also includes much of the pertinent information about the document: its title, date, classification, distribution information, type of document (letter, directive, etc.), number of pages included in the microfiche collection, originator, destination, amount of material excised from classified documents during the declassification process, location of originals where appropriate, variant documents, and a brief description of information in the document. Following this catalog, the editors provide three different 362 Reviews indices to the documents: one organized by name of individual. one arranged by organization, and the last organized by subject. All are alphabetical in arrangement. The documents that the G/lit/r zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCB trnd Indc.\describes are a wide-ranging set with value at a variety of levels. Out of the total of 708 documents, virtually all relate to policy issues in some way and are spread across the spectrum of Department of Defense (DOD) activities. The vast majority were originated in the post-1970 period (494 documents), but 130 date from the 196Os, and 83 deal with the earlier period. Of these documents most are reports and memoranda of some type, but cables, regulations, budget documents, orders. and a variety of othertypes make their way into the collection. Part or all of 32 different histories written for in-house planning purposes by various DOD agencies are also included, and while many of these histories are less than analytical and sometimes are quite pedestrian they provide a guide to the subject that can be mined with profit by later researchers. This author has some criticisms of the Grlirlr rrr~tl f/~tlc.~-and the microfiche document collection itself. Before raising them. however, it is only fair to state that the comments to follow are subject to two limiting factors (or LIMFACs as the DOD commonly calls them), and readers should weigh criticisms in light of them. First, this reviewer received from the publisher a copy of the zyxwvutsrqponm G uic lc cu7tl Iml~~.u and I3 representative microfiche to get a flavor of the documentary record. Consequently, the following remarks are not based on an exhaustive look at every microfiche. Second, since many of the hard copy documents are not available in their entirety, largely because of excisions made in the declassification process. the reviewer was unable to check many of them against those published in the microfiche set. Having registered these caveats, this author is dismayed at some of the editorial decisions in this effort. One example, relating to NASA. should suffice to illustrate the concern. Document 00339 in the microfiche collection is listed as NASA Qfficr~ of Dyfhnsc ,4ffirim:The First Five Ywrs by W. Fred Boone. It was published in December 1970, and the catalog indicates that it is a 36-page report of unknown classification. In actuality, the work is a 333-page historical study that has been unclassified and open to the public since it was first issued as a publication by the NASA History Division in 1970. A check ofthe document on the microfiche reveals that only 36 pages are included, but there is no indication anywhere of the more expansive nature of the study. After cover and title pages to the document, there are runs of these pages: 83-103, 201, 233, 749-53, 263-64. 276-77, and 282-83 interspersed with sheets that read PAGE NOT AVAILABLE. Additionally, some of the pages are poorly reproduced and contain a notation at the bottom indicating that the editors have reproduced the best available copy. There are several troubling aspects here. The guide does not accurately reflect the true size. extent, and classification of the actual document. The researcher is not well served by an incomplete and poorly reproduced copy of what is included on the microfiche, especially when the entire report has been and continues to be readily available in the NASA History Division and several other research institutions. Clearly, better copies could have been included without undue effort. The entire document should have been reproduced here or at least an indication should have been made in the guide that what is included is part of a much larger study and a note where that larger study is accessible to researchers. There is no excuse whatsoever for including poor copies or for indicating that pages were not available on the microfiche. The problems with this document raise questions in my mind about \ome of the others as well. A less specific criticism. and one that any documentary editor must face. relates to what is included and what is excluded. Individuals may differ over these choices. but in this reviewer’s estimation. there are included various somewhat esoteric documents, or those that can be found easily elsewhere, For instance. the Boone study. since it is while others, especially important ones. are omitted. unclassified and available in printed form, could have been omitted altogether. On the other hand, the editors included a single 1964 letter discussing the efforts of Hugh Dryden, the NASA Deputy Administrator, and Soviet Academician A.A. Blagonravov to work toward U.S./U.S.S.R. cooperation in space. These exchanges took place over several years-and there are several other letters, memoranda, and reports in the NASA History Division dealing with them-that are probably equally deserving of inclusion. Having raised these concerns. this documentary effort is nonetheless useful even though it carries a heavy price tag and may be outside the reach of many libraries and research institutions. The paper copies of these documents are available at the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C.. and now that they have all been declassified, at least in part, they are available from the document collections and research institutions of the various originating agencies. For instance. many of the documents contained in this collection. as well as zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWV m a ny more not included, are available for research in the USAF Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and the Air Force Historical Agency in Washington, D.C. Others can be found in the collections of the Reviews 363 National Archives and the various presidential libraries. Those collections may prove more satisfying to serious researchers than this microfiche. For beginners, and even for intermediate students U.S. Military Uses of Space, 1945-1991 will be a valuable collection. National Aeronautics ROGER D. LAUNIUS NASA Chief Historian Office of the Administrator and Space Administration Washington, DC 20546 USA Directory of United Nations Documentary and Archival Sources. Compiled with Annotations and an introduction by Peter I. Hajnal. (Reports and papers, the Academic Council on the United Nations System, 1991-I). Copublished by the Academic Council on the United Nations System, Kraus International Publications, and the United Nations, 1991. ISBN 92-1-100455-I (United Nations): ISBN o-527-37321-4 (Kraus International Publications) LC91-61735. UN Sales no. 91 .I. 14. $12.50 Since 1987 the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) has worked through its Committee on Documents and Archives to make United Nations documentation more accessible and usable for scholars and practitioners. As part of its efforts they commissioned Peter Hajnal, a well-known international documents specialist, to prepare this directory. The directory is designed to provide information for those studying the United Nations’ activities-what documentary collections and sources are available, what the collections contain, and where they are located. Hajnal has annotated over 500 entries for materials originating within the United Nations System as well as items of reference and informational value produced by commercial, academic, or government publishers. What is the distinction which the United Nations makes between a “document” and a “publication”? What are the implications for locating each? Hajnal’s introduction describes in some detail the pattern of publishing within the UN system, the organizational relationship between the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, and the volume, subject matter, and physical form of the documentation. The distinction between document and publication is discussed, and the various levels of distribution-general, limited, and restricted-are explained. The system of depository libraries for the United Nations and its specialized agencies is described. Although scholars are directed to a source that lists the depository libraries, including such a list in this directory would have enhanced its usefulness. The introduction also discusses the major bibliographic tools, which facilitate bibliographic control and research. Hajnal concludes the introduction by identifying some trends in international intergovernmental organization (IGO) publishing. A program, which at least one United Nations agency adopted in 1991, was not mentioned as a trend, perhaps in hopes that it would not become one; i.e., the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) imposing an additional charge for receipt of UNIDO documentation. The body of the directory is divided into two parts; entries are organized by subject in the first part and in the second part by research resources. The subject divisions include structural and institutional issues: peace, security, disarmament, and arms control; economic and social issues; international law; human rights; environment; and other topics and general information. The research resources section is subdivided into collections of documents; statistics; archival resources; and catalogs, indexes, guides, and other bibliographic tools. Within each section, entries are arranged alphabetically by personal or corporate author. The latest publication date for the entries included was 1991. The “structural and institutional issues” section includes sources such as annual reports, basic agreements, constitutions, official records and histories published by and about the United Nations system. Consequently, this section constitutes over 25 percent of the total number of entries. The primary bibliographies, catalogs of publications, and indexes produced by each of the agencies within the United Nations system as well as those compiled and published commercially are listed in the “catalogs, indexes, guides, and other bibliographic tools” section, which constitutes the largest portion of the listings in part two, research resources.