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. 4 …17 The BEACON HILL Report... 17 Concern About the Danger of a Soviet Surprise Attack... 19…
  • p. 13 Helen Hill Kleyla and Robert D. O'Hern. This 16-volume Top Secret Codeword study of…
  • p. 14 …view of the "other side of the hill." With the advent of dry film, it became…
  • p. 30 …this new advisory body. $ ^{29} $ ## The BEACON HILL Report In 1951 the Air Force sought even…
  • p. 31 …Their headquarters was located over a secretarial school on Beacon Hill, which soon became the codename…
  • p. 32 Secret NOFORN Chapter 1 document on 15 June 1952, the BEACON HILL Report advocated radical approaches…
  • p. 34 …Created in July 1953, the Intelligence Systems Panel (ISP) included several experts from the BEACON HILL…
  • p. 37 …the reconnaissance needs expressed in the BEACON HILL Report. Theoretically, he explained to the panel, any…
  • p. 44 …members had been discussing since the BEACON HILL and Intelligence Systems Panel meetings. James Baker was…
  • p. 45 …Having participated in the BEACON HILL Study and the Intelligence Systems Panel, several Project Three members…
  • p. 344 …He headed the Beacon Hill Panel in 1952 and later became director of Lincoln Laboratories. ## PARANGOSKY…
  • p. 345 …of several advisory panels, including the BEACON HILL project. He helped Baker decide what cameras to…
  • p. 364 …BEACON HILL Report: Problems of Air Force Intelligence and Reconnaissance. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 15 June…
  • p. 371 …137 Beacon Hill 17-19,21,24,31-32,331-332 BEACON HILL Report 17,19…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

## APPENDIX A

AEC	Atomic Energy Commission
AFB	Air Force Base
AFDAP	Air Force office symbol for the Assistant for Development Planning under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Development
AMD	Air/Maritime Division
ARC	Ad Hoc Requirements Committee
ARDC	Air Research and Development Command (USAF)
ASPIC	Asian Photographic Interpretation Center
ATIC	Air Technical Intelligence Center (USAF)
BSAP	Boston Scientific Advisory Panel
BUORL	Boston University Optical Research Laboratory
COMINT	Communications Intelligence
COMIREX	Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation
COMOR	Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance
DB	“Dirty Bird”
DCI	Director of Central Intelligence
DCID	Director of Central Intelligence Directive
DDCI	Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
DDI	Deputy Director for Intelligence
DDP	Deputy Director (or Directorate) for Plans
DDS&T	Deputy Director for Science and Technology
DPD	Development Projects Division
DPS	Development Projects Staff
ECM	Electronic Countermeasures
EG&G	Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier, Incorporated
ELINT	Electronic Intelligence
FCRC	Federally Controlled Research Center
HASP	High-Altitude Air Sampling Program
IAC	Intelligence Advisory Committee
IAS	Indicated air speed
IC	Intelligence community
ICBM	Intercontinental ballistic missile
IR	Infrared
ISP	Intelligence Systems Panel (USAF)
JRC	Joint Reconnaissance Center
MATS	Military Air Transport Service (USAF)

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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.