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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…
The Steuart Building, home
of the Photo-Intelligence
Division
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED
Secre N
Chapter 2
83
flood of photographs that the U-2 would bring back, so in May 1955
the Directorate of Support (DS) authorized expanding PID tor -1)er-
sons. Soon afterward the division moved from its room in M Building
to larger quarters in Que Building.
The Photo-Intelligence Division continued to expand in anticipa-
tion of large quantities of U-2 photography. Its authorized strength
doubled in January 1956 when a new project known as
HTAUTOMAT came into existence to exploit U-2 photography. All of
the products from this project would be placed in the new control sys-
tem. By the summer of 1956, the PID had moved to larger quarters in
the Steuart Building at 5th Street and New York Avenue, NW. PID
photointerpreters had already begun to work with U-2 photography
following a series of missions in April 1956, when U-2s photo-
graphed a number of US installations that were considered analogous
to high-priority Soviet installations. As a result of these preparations,
PID was ready for the mass of photography that began coming when
U-2 operations commenced in the summer of 1956.m
(0 12958 1.6(011>1010<25Yrs
IS)
For a more detailed history of photointerpretation in the CIA. see The
National Photographic Interpretation Center. vol. I. Antecedents ana curly rears.
Directorate of Science and Technology Historical Series NPIC-2, December 1972, pp.
171-194 (S).
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.