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/specialCollection/MissileGap/1992/1992-04-01.pdf

Central Intelligence Agency · 406 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 9 …The struggle between the CIA and the US Air Force to control the U-2 and…
  • p. 72 …2 missions. Access to the photographs taken by the U-2 would be strictly controlled, which…
  • p. 73 …This pact gave the Air Force responsibility for pilot selection and training, weather information, mission plotting…
  • p. 81 …Before the start of a mission, the ground crew set the counters to indicate the total…
  • p. 96 …All of the products from this project would be placed in the new control sys- tem…
  • p. 100 …This was an S-band radar used by Soviet forces for early warning and ground-controlled…
  • p. 113 …The President nevertheless maintained tight control over the program and authorized only 10 days of overflights…
  • p. 128 …the following day, whithi next U-2 mission returned from the Middle East. After quickly developing…
  • p. 140 …Welzenbach (S); Mission folder 4020 (18 Marcn n, CJJA rerar9 ITS Codeword). OSA History. chap. 4…
  • p. 142 …of the first series of U-2 missions as condu this research under a project codenamed…
  • p. 147 …not an easy task in crowded Japan.`) Detachment C began conducting missions in June 1957 after…
  • p. 191 …This revised cover story, along with a mission flight plan consistent with it, was sent to…
  • p. 196 …with Abel's "wife" (probably his Soviet control) in East Germany. In November 1961, Acting DCI…
  • p. 204 …in-the DDP in order to maintain control of his overhead reconnais- sance projects (the U…
  • p. 220 …Strongly favoring Air Force control of the U-2 missions over Cuba. the DOD representatives called…
  • p. 335 …The flood of information that the U-2 missions gathered led to a major expansion of…
  • p. 340 …In 1959 Bissell became Deputy Director for Plans but kept the reconnaissance projects under his control…
CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED
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Appendix B
327
APPENDIX B
Key Personnel
AYER, Frederick, Jr.
Special assistant to Trevor Gardner in the Office of the Secretary of
the Air Force, Ayer was a strong advocate of overhead reconnaissance
by balloons and an early supporter of Lockheed's CL-282 design.
BAKER, James G.
Harvard astronomer and lens designer, Baker was a leading designer
of high-acuity aerial lenses during World War II and continued this
work after the war. He also headed the Air Force Intelligence Systems
Panel and served on the Technological Capabilities Panel's Project
Three committee that urged the development of the U-2 aircraft.
Baker designed the lenses for the U-2's cameras.
BISSELL, Richard M., Jr.
Head of all CIA overhead reconnaissance programs from 1954 until
1962, a former economics professor at MIT and high official of the
Marshall Plan, Bissell became Allen W. Dulles's Special Assistant for
Planning and Coordination in January 1954 and received responsibil-
ity for the new U-2 project at the end of that year. Later he also
headed the first photosatellite project and oversaw the development of
the OXCART. In 1959 Bissell became Deputy Director for Plans but
kept the reconnaissance projects under his control. He resigned from
the CIA in February 1962.
CA BELL, George Pearre
Air Force general and DDCI from 1953 until 1962. Because of
Cabe11's many years of experience in aerial reconnaissance, DCI
Dulles delegated most of the responsibility for the reconnaissance
projects to him.
CARTER, Marshall S.
Army general who served as DDCI from 1962 until 1965. During the
period leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Carter served as Acting
DCI on a number of occasions while DCI McCone was out of town.
In October 1962 he fought unsuccessfully to keep the CIA involved in
flying reconnaissance missions over Cuba. Carter became the
Director of the National Security Agency in 1965.
CHARYK, Joseph R.
An aeronautical engineer who had followed careers first in academia
and then the aerospace industry, Charyk became the Chief Scientist of
Set
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.