Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, published in Washington in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, which developed and flew the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It traces the U-2's development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960, and later operations. One section is titled U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK.
“Cabinet Office”2 pages
M-12 carrying 0-21 Drone CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED SecrefleQN Chapter 6 293 OXCART. This technology would be invaluable for Air Force pro- jects such as the B-70 bomber and for the civilian supersonic trans- . _- port (SST) then being discussed in Congress. In the fall of 1963, several Presidential advisers expressed their concern to DCI McCone that Lockheed had received a $700 million headstart in the develop- ment of supersonic technology, giving the firm a tremendous advan- tage over other aerospace companies working on a supersonic transport. McCone passed these concerns on to President Kennedy on 12 November 1963, just 10 days before the fateful trip to Dallas. The President instructed CIA and the Defense Department to develop a plan for surfacing the OXCART but to await further discussions with him before taking any action." President Lyndon B. Johnson received a detailed briefing on the OXCART program from McCone, McNamara, Bundy, and Rusk on 29 November, after just one week in office. McNamara strongly ad- vocated surfacing a version of the OXCART. McCone was more cau- tious, calling for the preparation of a statement that could be used when surfacing became necessary but arguing that such a step was not "John A. McCone, "Memorandum of Meeting in Cabinet Room for the Purpose of Discussing the Surfacing of the OX," 21 January 1963, DCI records (TS Codeword); idem, Memorandum for the Record. Discussion with the President—October 21st-6:00 p.m., 22 October 1963, DCI records (S); OSA Histor), .. chap. 20, pp. 73-74 (TS Codeword) Se t UNCLASSIFIED
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.