Documents / Official release

CIA-UAP-003, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

Central Intelligence Agency · 1954 · 406 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

Open the PDF at page 368 Original source ↗

“United Press”17 pages

  • p. 12 later, at press conferences in February and July 1. 964, President Lyndon B. Johnson revealed the…
  • p. 40 …and meetings with every major unit of the US defense and intelligence establish ments. After receiving…
  • p. 98 …The Soviet Union sent strongly worded protest notes to the United States and the nations from…
  • p. 102 …not only press releases and the public Line to be taken, but also the suspension of…
  • p. 107 …in the United Kingdom. At about the ' Ibid.. pp. 17-18 (TS Codeword). ' Press Release of…
  • p. 112 …at a press conference that the Soviet Union might be ahead of the United States in…
  • p. 125 …Dial Press. 1982), pp. 45-47. '' Lundahl and Brugioni interview (TS Codeword). ~eeret
  • p. 167 …By 1957 cooperation be tween the United Kingdom and the United States had expanded to include…
  • p. 174 …Defense Department officials pressed President Eisenhower to authorize renewed overflights to gather up-to-date in…
  • p. 183 …On the 9 April overflight, the U-2 's ELINT-collection unit (System VI) indicated Soviet…
  • p. 195 …in the press about the presence of "spyplanes" on Japanese territory, asked the United States to…
  • p. 198 …DCI records (S). " United States Congress. Senate. Foreign Relations Committee. £recutive Sessions of tlze Sencae Foreign…
  • p. 307 …By 1962 the United States had become aware of the effectiveness of a new Soviet radar…
  • p. 315 …To preserve the secrecy of the OXCART program, the Air Force informed the press that an…
  • p. 328 …at times when the press and Congress alleged that the United States was falling behind the…
  • p. 362 …Smithsonian Institute Press, l 985. Khrushchev. Nikita S. Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament. Boston: Little, Brown…
  • p. 401 …United Kingdom (See Great Britain) United Kingdom Requirements Committee 154 United Nations 20 United Press International…
355
Seeret NOFORN
Index
A
A-I camera
50
A-2 aircraft
262-263
A-2 camera
53, 77. 100, 104-105. 108
A-3 aircraft
263
A-II
268. 294
A-12
271, 273-274, 277-278. 28 I,
283-286. 289-292. 294-297, 299.
302-305. 307-311, 329
Abel. Rudolf
183, 332
Ad Hoc Requirements Committee
81. 114, 188-189, 332
Adana. Turkey
113
Ade11auer. Konrad
- 101
Adkins. Charles N.
342
Administration (East) Building
42
advanced antiballistic-missile (ABM)
139
aerial cameras
13, 31. 49. 329
aerial lenses
327
aerial photography
3. 13, 33. 49, 96, 119
aerial tankers
313
aerodynamic lift
248. 277
aerodynamic structural tests
274
aerodynamicist
342
Aerospace Corporation
328
Afghanistan
126. 170. 176. 189
afterburner plume
271
ailerons
47, 69
Air Research and
Development Command
5. 8
Air Staff for Intelligence
154
Air Weather Service
89. 94
air-cooled reactor
239
air-inlet system
291
air-to-air missiles
285,336
air-traffic controllers
72-73. 289
Air/Maritime Division (AMO)
73
aircraft carrier
145, 247, 250
airfields
82, 95-96, 105. 117. 153. 216,
221,226,317
airframe
5, 8. 10. 24, 26. 48. 56, 71,
105. 132-133, 248. 259. 274, 279.
286. 289
airframe contractors
259
airspace
3-4, 19. 127. 134. 142. 144-147.
152-153. 182. 231. 239,241,
303. 306. 318. 322
airspeed
I 6& 16 I gg ?35 .,.,
Alaska
133-134. 145. 316
Sec,et""

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

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.