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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. 19 CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED ."-ge""011-141 Chapter 1 6 '• Q.., ./ • „„, a • • ..a■ ...A • - at -... .441 RAF Canberra…
  • p. 36 …In 1952 the Royal Air Force (RAF) began Project ROBIN, which was designed to modify the…
  • p. 122 …twin-engine Canberra bomber, similar to the RAF overflight of Kapustin Yar in 1953. The US…
  • p. 316 …Project IDEALIST U-2 flying from an RAF facility in Great Britain. The OXCART would fly…
  • p. 339 …Division PSAC President's Science Advisory Committee RAF Royal Air Force RFP Request for proposal SAB…
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The Eisenhower administration viewed the developments in the
eastern Mediterranean with great concern. To keep the President and
Secretary of State abreast of developments in the area, Deputy
Director for Intelligence Robert Amory established on 12 September
a multiagency group known as the PARAMOUNT Committee to
monitor the situation on a round-the-clock basis. The PARAMOUNT
Committee worked inside PID headquarters in the Steuart Building.
Composed of members from CIA, State, NSA, Army, Navy, and Air
Force, this committee met daily—frequently several times a day—to
produce reports based on information obtained from U-2 photogra-
phy, communications and electronic intelligence, and agents. The
photointerpreters working for the PARMOUNT committee also came
from several agencies: the CIA, the Army, and the Navy.46
Mission folders 1104 (29 August 1956) and 1105 (29 August 1956), OSA records,
TS Codeword).
Lundahl and Brugioni interview (TS Codeword): NPIC History, vol. I, pp. 56-58 (S).
NP1C History, vol. I. pp. 47-49, 54-56 (S).
UNCLASSIFIED

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.