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 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.

Open the PDF at page 361 Original source ↗

“United Press”12 pages

  • p. 12 later, at press conferences in February and July 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson revealed the existence…
  • p. 98 …The Soviet Union sent strongly worded protest notes to the United States and the nations from…
  • p. 102 …not only press releases and the public line to be taken, but also the suspension of…
  • p. 112 …at a press conference that the Soviet Union might be ahead of the United States in…
  • p. 167 Secret NOFORN become involved in the U-2 project in September 1956, when the United States…
  • p. 174 …McElroy stressed that the gap would be temporary and that at its end the United States…
  • p. 183 …On the 9 April overflight, the U-2's ELINT-collection unit (System VI) indicated Soviet…
  • p. 195 …in the press about the presence of "spyplanes" on Japanese territory, asked the United States to…
  • p. 315 …To preserve the secrecy of the OXCART program, the Air Force informed the press that an…
  • p. 328 …at times when the press and Congress alleged that the United States was falling behind the…
  • p. 362 …Smithsonian Institute Press, 1985. Khrushchev, Nikita S. Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co…
  • p. 401 …United Kingdom (See Great Britain) United Kingdom Requirements Committee 154 United Nations 20 United Press International…
Secret NOFORN

Bibliography

Coughlin, William. "Gardner Defends Greater R&D Spending." Aviation Week, 26 September 1955, p. 14.

Eastman, Ford. "Defense Officials Concede Missile Lag." Aviation Week, 9 February 1959, pp. 26-27.

Edwards, Philip K. "The President's Board: 1956-60." Studies in Intelligence 13 (Summer 1969): p. 118 (Secret).

Eisenhower, Dwight D. Waging Peace, 1956-1961. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965.

Freedman, Lawrence. US Intelligence and the Soviet Strategic Threat. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.

George, A. L. Case Studies of Actual and Alleged Overflights, 1930-1953. Rand Study RM-1349. Santa Monica: Rand, 1955 (Secret).

Center Germany, 1951 to 1967. Clandestine Service Historical Series CSHP-41. CIA: History Staff, 1972 (Secret).

Hotz, Robert. "Firing of 900-Mile Russian Missile Spurs US Changes." Aviation Week, 20 February 1956, pp. 26-28.

. "Russian Air Force Now Gaining in Quality." Aviation Week, 12 March 1956, pp. 286-291.

. "Russian Jet Airpower Gains Fast on US." Aviation Week, 23 May 1955, pp. 12-15.

"Is Russia Ahead in Missile Race?" US News and World Report, 6 September 1957, pp. 30-33.

"Is Russia Really Ahead in Missile Race?" US News and World Report, 4 May 1956, pp. 34-35.

"Is Russia Winning the Arms Race?" US News and World Report, 18 June 1954, pp. 28-29.

"Is US Really Losing in the Air?" US News and World Report, 18 May 1956, pp. 25-27.

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About this file

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