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CIA/CSI/ History Staff Monograph, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 16 July 2002.

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, written in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and its two aircraft, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It follows their development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers in 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…
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reconnaissance program offers no tidy model for imitation, it does
reveal how resourceful managers coped with unprecedented techno-
logical challenges and their implications for intelligence and national
policy. For this reason, the program's history provides profitable
reading for intelligence professionals and policymakers today.
Many people made important contributions to the production of
this volume. In the History Staff's preparation of the manuscript,
Gerald Haines did the final revision, jigain demon-
strated her high talent as a copy editornj provided
staunch secretarial support throughout. As usual, we are indebted to
more members than we can name from the Publications, Design, and
Cartography Centers in the Office of Current Production and Analytic
Support, whose lively interest in the publication went far beyond the
call of duty. Their exceptional professional skill and the masterly
work of the Printing and Photography Group combined to create this
handsome volume.
Donald E. Welzenbach, who began this study, and Gregory W.
Pedlow, who completed it, brought complementary strengths to this
work. A veteran of CIA service since 1960, Mr. Welzenbach began
research on this study in 1983, when he joined the DCI History Staff
on a rotational assignment from the Directorate of Science and
Technology. After tireless documentary research and extensive inter-
viewing, he finished a draft manuscript of the history before returning
to his directorate. In early 1986, Gregory W. Pedlow, a new member
of the DCI History Staff, was assigned to complete the study. A Johns
Hopkins University Ph.D. who has served as an Army intelligence
officer and University of Nebraska professor of history, Dr. Pedlow
undertook important research in several new areas, and reorganized,
edited, and revised the entire manuscript before leaving CIA to be-
come NATO Historian in late 1989. The final work, which has greatly
benefited from both authors' contributions, is the CIA's own history
of the world's first great overhead reconnaissance program. •
J. Kenneth McDonald
Chief, CIA History Staff
April 1992

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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.