National Reconnaissance Office selects 2004 class of Pioneers (Forwarded)

Office of Corporate Communications
National Reconnaissance Office
Chantilly, Virginia

12 October 2004

NRO selects 2004 class of Pioneers

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has selected its Pioneer Class of 2004
-- four people who made significant and lasting contributions to the discipline
of national reconnaissance. The four selectees are Mr. Sam Araki, retired Air
Force Lt. Col. Harvey Cohen, Mr. Robert Kaemmerer, and Mr. James McAnally.

The new pioneers will be honored in a ceremony at 2 p.m. Oct. 13 at NRO
headquarters where plaques will be permanently displayed in their honor. The
pioneers were selected by Under Secretary of the Air Force and NRO Director
Peter Teets based on recommendations from a special selection board, and will
join 57 pioneers selected over the past four years.

Mr. Araki pioneered at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company the development of
the Agena spacecraft, the world's first stabilized platform for space. His
contributions resulted in a space platform that the NRO used during the 1960s
for a majority of its space-based SIGINT and IMINT systems, most notably for the
highly successful Corona system. His career in national reconnaissance spanned
from 1958-2002.

Lt. Col. Cohen pioneered for Program A from 1964 to 1984 innovative NRO security
practices and procedures that were instrumental in the success of Program A's
Cold War Space Systems. These innovative information safeguard procedures, and
their associated policy framework, provided the essential security to protect
sensitive reconnaissance technology. His career in national reconnaissance
spanned from 1962-2000.

Mr. Kaemmerer pioneered at TRW the development of the most sophisticated family
of intelligence satellite systems of the Cold War. His contributions continued
to be reflected in nearly every facet of certain NRO geo-synchronous and
highly-elliptical orbit systems developed during the early 21st Century. His
career in national reconnaissance spanned from 1966 to the present.

Mr. McAnally pioneered at Martin Marietta development of a new satellite
reconnaissance system capable of producing imagery essential for a wide range of
operations. This system provided unique and critical intelligence information
during the Cold War and into the Global War on Terrorism. His career in national
reconnaissance spanned from 1976-1997.