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.
Soviet Myasishchev-4 bomber (the Bison) CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED "."'"reZrtrt-4■11:),Efe& Chapter 1 21 The Air Force Intelligence Systems Panel _- Even before the publication of photographs of the Bison raised fears that the Soviet bomber force might eventually surpass that of the United States, the Air Force had already established a new advisory body to look for ways to implement the main recommendation of the BEACON HILL Report—the construction of high-flying aircraft and high-acuity cameras. Created in July 1953, the Intelligence Systems Panel (ISP) included several experts from the BEACON HILL Study Group: Land, Overhage, Donovan, and Miller. At the request of the Air Force, the CIA also participated in the panel, represented by Edward L. Allen of the Office of Research and Reports (ORR) and Philip Strong of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI).36 The chairman of the new panel was Dr. James G. Baker, a re- search associate at the Harvard College Observatory. Baker had been involved in aerial reconnaissance since 1940, when he first advised the Army Air Corps on ways to improve its lenses. He then estab- lished a full-scale optical laboratory at Harvard—the Harvard University Optical Research Laboratory—to produce high-quality ED 129581.6111111)>10<25Yrs IS) Memorandum for Robert Amory. Jr.. Deputy Director. Intelligence from Edward L. Allen, Chief. Economic Research, ORR and Philip G. Strung. Chief, Operations Staff, OSI. "Meeting of the Intelligence Systems Panel of the Scientific Advisory Board. USAF," 26 August 1953. OS( (OSWR) records. S). UNCLASSIFIED
Not linked to a story yet.
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.