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some extent outside of OSI's control. Coverage is determined by the production mechanism discussed above, by certain DCIDs which limited those areas of OSI responsibility at times, by OSI's capabilities in various fields, and by the necessity to react to certain foreign events such as the first Soviet earth satellite vehicle.
The earliest OSI estimates were concerned primarily with research and development of military weapons and equipment. These estimates laid heavy emphasis on nuclear energy as well as biological warfare and chemical warfare. In fact, the first non-nuclear OSI estimate to which OSI had a major input was published in 1951 and concerned the probability of Soviet employment of BW and CW. In 1952, another estimate on BW, SE-24, "Communist Charges of U.S. Use of Biological Warfare," was published.
In this early period, OSI saw a larger need for comprehensive and factual estimates in each major scientific and technical field as had been prepared for the nuclear energy field. OSI also realized that to a great extent a large data base from which to prepare estimates was lacking. Thus, plans were made to produce periodic national scientific intelligence estimates which were to lead ultimately to the preparation
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