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.
“Hill”15 pages
195 Sec, et N6f8AN Chapter 5J•.·l • . _,. · .. U-2 Operatiqns After May 1960 The loss of Francis Gary Powers' U-2 over the Soviet Union on l May 1960 marked the end of the aircraft's use over the Soviet Bloc. Soon after the May Day incident. President Eisenhower ordlered an end to overflights. Similarly, his successor, John F. Kennedy, told a 25 January 1961 press conference, " I have ordered that the flights not be resumed, which is a conti nuation of the order gi ven by President .. ..Eisenhower in May of last year." T his was not a bind_ing pledge, as John A. McCone (who became DCI in November 196 1) poi nted out to President K ennedy's successor. Lyndon 8 . Johnson, on 15 January 1964 in response to the new President's request for information on U-2 overflight policies: Contrary to popular assumption, President Kennedy did not make any pledge or give an assurance, at least publicly. that there would be no further overflights. He limited his response to a statement that he had ordered that the flights not be r,':?sumed. An order, obviously, is valid only until countermanded.' Technically, McCone was correct, but no President was l ikely to order a resumption of overflights of the Soviet Union without very good reason, and such a situation never developed, in part because satellite photography gradually began to fill the gap left by the end of U-2 coverage. A lthough there were several proposals to resume overflights of the Soviet Union in the years that followed, none reached the mi ssion planning stage. T he Kennedy administration came closest to resuming ' Memorandum for President Johnson from DCI McCone... Response to Query Concerning U-2 Overflight Policy:· 15 January 1964. DCI records. job 80-8-1676R. box 17. folder 14 (TS Codeword). Seerec
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Official release, from the pursue 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.