Documents / Official release
This is a Secret History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach of the Central Intelligence Agency, published in 1992. It gives a history of the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, covering the development and operation of the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART aircraft. It covers overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers, and later operations. One section is titled "U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK."
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 This CIA History Staff document chronicles the complete history of the U-2 and OXCART (A-12) high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft programs from 1954 to 1974, detailing their development, operations over the Soviet Union and other targets worldwide, the famous downing of Francis Gary Powers in 1960, organizational reforms following that incident, and the eventual transfer of operations from CIA to Air Force control. A more redacted version of this document has been available on CIA's public website.
“Headquarters”22 pages
188 Chapter 4 Sec,et=" became more formal as the National Security Council became involved. Henceforth, proposed missions had to be submitted to the National Security Council (NSC) Special Group for approval. In the early 1960s, the Sptcial Group consisted of the DCI, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Under Secretary of State, and the Military Adviser to the President. After the Military Adviser, Gen. Maxwell Taylor, became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962, his place on the Special Group was taken by McGeorge Bundy, the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs. 50 Before requesting permission from the Special Group for a U-2 mission over denied territory, the CIA prepared a detailed submission giving justification for the proposed mission and maps showing the targets to be photographed. flight times, and emergency landing sites. Such submissions came to be known as "black books" because they were placed in black. looseleaf binders. The decision of the Special Group was generally final, although on occasion controversial issues were presented to the President for his decision. This approval process did not come into play immediately after May 1960 because there was a long pause in U-2 operations as the detachments returned from overseas. It was not until late October 1960 that the next U-2 operation occurred. this time over Cuba. By this time the full approval procedure had been established, and the Special Group approved the mission (sec chapter 5). The approval process was not the only part of the U-2 program that changed after May l 960. The process for establishing require ments for overhead reconnaissance missions also became more for mal. In August 1960 the US Intelligence Board took over the Ad Hoc Requirements Committee and merged it with the Satellite Intelligence Requirements Committee to form the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance. DCI Directive 2/7 tasked COMOR with the '·coor dinated development of foreign intelligence requirements for overhead-reconnaissance projects over denied areas." The DCID defined "overhead reconnaissance'' to include "all reconnaissance for foreign-intelligence purposes by satellite. or by any vehicle over '" The Special Group. which had becn creatcd by NSC lntcl!igen,e Documt:nt 54 l 211 in 1955 to ovcrsc.: covert a,tivitics. was originally known as the 54 l 2 Committ.:e. Later the Sp,xial Group bccame known as the: 303 Committce and then thc 40 Committee. Unitcd States Congress. Senate. Sckct Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Rcspcct to lntt:lligcnce Activities. Foreign and .Wiliwry l111elligence. book l. (Washington. DC: US Government Printing Office. 1976). pp. 4S-53.
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Official release, from the pursue 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.