Documents / FOIA release

The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; the U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 1954-1974

Central Intelligence Agency · 1900-01-01 · 406 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This is a 1992 CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, originally classified Secret NOFORN and approved for release in 2013. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and the two aircraft it developed, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. The history covers the U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers and later operations in Asia and Latin America. It also includes a section on U-2s, UFOs and Operation BLUE BOOK.

  • p. 123 …Former Air Force Col. Richard S. Leghorn headed the SEI operation for the Agency when it…
  • p. 146 …U-2 took off from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska to conduct the first intentional…
  • p. 195 …were consolidated into Detachment G at Edwards Air Force Base, California, the unit formed after the…
  • p. 222 …CIA's U-2 Detachment at Edwards Air Force Base on 11 October, and the CIA…
  • p. 234 …were incorporated into Detachment G at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This detachment was now…
  • p. 269 …the Agency's Detachment G at Edwards Air Force Base could deploy aircraft to and begin…
  • p. 308 Secret NOFORN Chapter 6 these aircraft were hastily flown to Edwards Air Force Base. From this…

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Trial of Francis Gary Powers

with Powers' behavior. $ ^{42} $ After reading the debriefing reports, Allen Dulles expressed support of Powers' actions and told Powers, "We are proud of what you have done," but Dulles had already resigned as DCI in November 1961. $ ^{43} $ The new DCI, John A. McCone, demanded a closer look at Powers' actions and set up a Board of Inquiry headed by retired Federal Judge E. Barrett Prettyman. After eight days of hearings and deliberation, the board reported on 27 February that Powers had acted in accordance with his instructions and had "complied with his obligations as an American citizen during this period." The board, therefore, recommended that he receive his back pay.

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About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.