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."
“Nevers”24 pages
Chapter 2 44 E0 12958 1.6([11111>1010<25Yrs IS] _ 005653421 UNCLASSIFIED use. Public Law 110, approved by the 81st Congress on 20 June 1949, designates the Director of Central Intelligence as the only government employee who can obligate Federal money without the use of vouch- ers.1 In mid-December 1954, President Eisenhower authorized DCI Dulles to use rom the Agency's Contingency Reserve Fund to finance the -.. project. Then on 22 December 1954, the Agency signed a letter contract with Lockheed, using the codename Project OARFISH. The Agency had proposed to give Lockheed "performance specifications" rather than the standard Air Force "technical specifica- tions," which were more rigid and demanding, and Kelly Johnson agreed that such a move would save a lot of money. Lockheed's original pro- posal to the Air Force in May 1954 had been 'or 20 U-2s equipped with GE J73 engines. During negotiations with CIA General Lawrence R. Houston, Lockheed changed its proposal to for 20 airframes plus a two-seat trainer model and spares; the as to furnish the engines. Houston insisted that the Agency could only budget of the availa e sides finally agr or the airframes because it needed the balance for cameras and life-support gear. The two d-price contract with a provision for a re- view three-fourths of the way through to determine if the costs were going to exceed the rgure. The formal contract, No. SP-1913, was signed on 2 March 19 and called for the delivery of the first U-2 in July 1955 and the last in November 1956. Meanwhile, to keep work moving at Lockheed, Richard Bissell wrote a check and mailed it to Kelly Johns home on 21 February 1955." 4 John S. Warner, Office of the General Counsel, interview by Donald E. Welzenbach, Washington, DC, tape recording, 5 Aug 1983 (S); OSA History, chap. 5, pp. 1-2 and annex 42 (TS Codeword); Johnson, "Log for Project X." 21 February 1955. `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.