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.

  • p. 5 …139 Cooperation With Norway ....................................................................... 142 Declining Overflight Activity.................................................................... 143 Concerns About Soviet Countermeasures Against the U…
  • p. 7 …320 Cooperation With the Air Force ............................................................. 321 Impact of the Overhead Reconnaissance Program o n the…
  • p. 91 …Early in the program Bissell and Ritland had foreseen such an emergency and, with the cooperation…
  • p. 95 …their awareness of the vital nature of their mission kept the level of cooperation high. The…
  • p. 143 …deception project since its early days, he cooperated reluctantly because he disliked adding attachments that made…
  • p. 155 …the beginning of cooperation between CIA and the Norwegian Intelligence Service on the U-2 program…
  • p. 167 …By 1957 cooperation be tween the United Kingdom and the United States had expanded to include…
  • p. 169 …a logical ex tension of the close cooperation that already existed between the two countries on…
  • p. 196 …as possible while giving the appearance of cooperating with his cap tors. To extract the maximum…
  • p. 287 …by Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (EG&G) in cooperation with the Scientific Engineering Institute at a small…
  • p. 302 …Halaby cooperated fully with the Agency and personally briefed all FAA regional chiefs on how to…
  • p. 334 …The cooperation between the Agency and the Air Force that began with the U-2 and…
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Index
374
National Security Council Intelligence
Directive (NSCID)
191
Nationalist China
319,215,224,226,229,236
Nationalist Chinese
201, 205, 222-226,
229-230, 234-237, 239-240,
243, 245-246, 253,257,319
Air Force
223,225
insignia
225
pilots
319,223,230,235,243,246,253
U-2
205, 223-224, 229, 246
Navajo missile
22
Naval Air Station at Atsugi, Japan
134
naval quarantine
210
Nehru, Jawaharlal
231~233
Nelson, Nonnan
68
Nevada
56-57, 341, 113, 130-131, 133, 149,
182, 241, 274, 283, 286, 290, 295,
297, 302-303, 31 I
Nevada Proving Ground
56,241
New Delhi, India
232
Ngo Dinh Diem
230
NICE GIRL
310
nickel-cadmium batteries
240
Nile River
119
NIMBUS
200
1973 Middle East war
256,320
9th Tactical Air Force
330
nitrogen
64
Nixon, Richard M.
245-246, 256-257, 333
Nobel Prize
332
North American Air Defense
Command (NORAD)
289
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)
20, 329, 87, 148, 172
radars
87
North Island Naval Base, California
248
North Korea
4,233,237,242,307
North Vietnam
190, 221-222, 230-231, 233, 243,
246-247, 301, 304-307, 311,336,342
North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA)
231
Northrop Aviation
259
Norton, Garrison
14-15, 31, 70,260,331
Norwalk, Connecticut
50
Norway
140, 142, 172, 176-177, 303,319
Norwegian Defense Staff
142
Norwegian Intelligence Service
142
Notre Dame University
7
Novaya Zemlya
172
Novokuznetsk, Soviet Union
138
nuclear energy
39, 81, 225
Nuclear Energy Division
39
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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.