Documents / FOIA release
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."
“Donald A. Johnson”17 pages
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED Sec NOFORN Chap 257 lead to the overseas deployment of Detachment G U-2s in 1974, when the CIA was tasked to monitor the Israeli-Egyptian and later the Israeli-Syrian disengagement areas. On 21 April 1974 a Detachment G U-2 with appropriatr support elements arrived at 'to conduct Operation! Between1ay an July, the detachment conducted six overflights of the disengagement areas. During these missions the electronic warning systems of the U-2 registered numerous radar lockons, but no surface-to-air missiles were fired. On 1 August 1974, responsibility for the missions as well as the aircraft itself came into the an or me orce as part of the transfer of the entire Agency U-2 pro- gram at that time.'" The Phaseout of the Office of Special Activities The Agency's U-2 program had been under review since the autumn of 1969 to determine if it should be continued along with the larger Air Force U-2 program. In December 1969, President Nixon decided to keep the Agency's program in existence through 1971 and asked for a formal review by the 40 Committee (the new name for the 303 Ccrmmittee/Special Group). In August 1970, the committee recom- mended continuing the program through fiscal year 1972. On 12 August 1972, the 40 Committee again favored continuation of the CIA U-2 program. This recommendation was motivated primarily by a desire' In June 1913, however, DC1 James K. Schlesinger informed the 40 Committee that thisproject could be ter- minated without causing major difficulties1 n 30 August 1973, the 40 Committee approved the CIA's plans to terminate the U-2 program effective 1 August 1974. The Air Force would assume funding responsibility for the four U-2R aircraft assigned to the Agency and would take physical possession of them then or shortly thereafter. On 1 April 1974, Ambassador' 'of the US intention to end the U-2 project, and the two countries then worked out a schedule for phasing out EO 12958 1.61(0111>1010101010<25Yrs Detachments !Their parent organization, the Office of IS1 Special Activities, began its phaseout immediately thereafter. The 20-year career of the U-2 with the CIA had come to an end. " Ibid., pp. 31-34 (TS Codeword). Ibid.. chap. 10, pp. 1-4 (TS Codeword). Sec 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.