Editing Area 51 (section)

===1974 Skylab photography===
[[Dwayne A. Day]] published "Astronauts and Area 51: the [[Skylab 4|Skylab]] Incident" in ''[[The Space Review]]'' in January 2006. It was based on a memo written in 1974 to CIA director [[William Colby]] by an unknown CIA official. The memo reported that astronauts on board Skylab had inadvertently photographed a certain location:<ref name="Photo" />
{{blockquote|There were specific instructions not to do this. [redacted] was the only location which had such an instruction.}}

The name of the location was obscured,{{efn|In the declassified documents, the name ''Area 51'' is redacted in all but two instances (probably mistakes).{{sfn|Jacobsen|2012|p=xvi}}}} but the context led Day to believe that the subject was Groom Lake. Day wrote that "the CIA considered no other spot on Earth to be as sensitive as Groom Lake". Even within the agency's [[National Photographic Interpretation Center]] that handled classified reconnaissance satellite photographs, images of the site were removed from film rolls and stored separately as not all [[photo interpreter]]s had [[security clearance]] for the information.<ref name="Photo">{{cite news |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/531/1 |last=Day |first=Dwayne A. |title=Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident |author-link=Dwayne A. Day |publisher=[[The Space Review]] (online) |date=9 January 2006 |access-date=2 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316181549/http://www.thespacereview.com/article/531/1 |archive-date=16 March 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030916-4.html |title=Presidential Determination No. 2003–39 |publisher=Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov |date=16 September 2003 |access-date=10 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510015728/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030916-4.html |archive-date=10 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> The memo details debate between federal agencies regarding whether the images should be classified, with [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] agencies arguing that it should and [[NASA]] and the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] arguing that it should not be classified. The memo itself questions the legality of retroactively classifying unclassified images.<ref name="Photo" />

The memo includes handwritten remarks,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/archive/531.pdf |title=CIA memo to DCI Colby |publisher=Hosted by The Space Review |access-date=2 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060326030802/http://www.thespacereview.com/archive/531.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> apparently by [[Director of Central Intelligence]] Colby:

{{blockquote|[Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk|Rusk]]] 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:
# [[Soviet Union|USSR]] has it from own sats
# What really does it reveal?
# If exposed, don't we just say classified USAF work is done there?}}

The declassified documents do not disclose the outcome of discussions regarding the Skylab imagery. The debate proved moot, as the photograph appeared in the Federal Government's Archive of Satellite Imagery along with the remaining Skylab photographs.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1010/1 |last=Day |first=Dwayne A. |title=Secret Apollo |author-link=Dwayne A. Day |publisher=The Space Review (online) |date=26 November 2007 |access-date=16 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712145524/http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1010/1 |archive-date=12 July 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>