There are special difficulties involved in utilizing and disseminating data from methods and sources that Are Not Supposed to Exist. For much of its existence the National Reconnaissance Office officially Did Not Exist. Special systems had to be developed to enable information gathered by the NRO’s systems to be dispensed to the field.

Even then, there were basic problems with such Nonexistent Resources. It was difficult, at best, for people who needed the data to have any input on what was collected. Thus, they inevitably were unimpressed with the results. It was not designed to meet their needs, and they got results commensurate with their noninvolvement.

Admitting the existence of the NRO solved the basic problem of “where did this data come from?” but added some new ones. For example, I once had to answer a FOIA request on whether the NRO had asked NASA astronauts to hang out the back of a Shuttle and take pictures of Chelybinsk with a hand held camera. Now why anyone would even care is a really good question, but since the NRO Did Not Exist at that time, I had to answer the FOIA, which I did by referring to back issues of Aviation Week and responding “We have no information on that.” Now, the NRO itself has to put up with that kind of nonsense.