NRO Declassifies Jumpseat: Details Emerge on Cold War HEO Signals Intelligence Program

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has declassified details and imagery of the Jumpseat program, its first-generation highly elliptical orbit (HEO) signals-collection satellites. Operating from 1971 to 2006, Jumpseat primarily monitored Soviet military development from high altitudes. The declassification provides new insight into Cold War-era overhead intelligence gathering techniques.