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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. 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…
29
Sec, ct NOl'OP\ 111
Chapter 1
the task of investigating the nation's intelligence capab ilities. Its
chairman was Edwin H. (Din) Land, the inventor of the polarizing fi l
ter and the instant camera. When James K illian asked Land to head
Project Three, Land had to make a major dec ision about his caree:r. At
the time, the 45-year-old millionaire was on a leave of absence from
Polaroid and was living in Hollywood, advising Alfred Hitchcock on
the technological aspects of making three-dimensional movies. Land
decided to give up his interest in cinema's th ird dimension and return
east to Polaroid and the panel appointmem! 1
Land's Project T hree was the smallest of the three Technological
Capabilities Panel projects, for he preferred what he called " tax icab
committees··-committees small enough to fit into a single taxicab.
The Project Three committee consis ted of Land; James Baker and
Edward Purcell of Harvard; chemist Joseph W. Kennedy of
Washington University, St. Louis: mathematician John W. Tuke:y of
Princeton University and Be ll Telephone Laboratories : and A llen
Latham, Jr.. of Arthur D. Little. l nc., an engineer and former treasurer
of the Polaroid Corporation:~ Edwin H. Land
[n mid-August 1954. Land and Baker went to Washington t,o ar
range for the various intelligence organizations to brief the Project
Three study group. As the briefings progressed. the pane l members
became more and more distressed at the poor state of the nation' s in
telligence resources. Land later noted, "We would go in and interview
generals and admirals in charge of intelligence and come away wor
ried. Here we were, five or six young men. asking questions that these
high-ranking officers couldn't answer." Land added that the Prnject
Three members were also not overly impressed with the Central
Intelligence Agency.~·1
Land learned the details of Lockheed's proposed CL-282 aircraft
soon after he arrived in Washington. Philip Strong showed him Kelly
Johnson's conceptual drawing of the plane and told him that the: Air
Force had rejected it. A lthough Land had heard Allen Donovan
'' James R. Killian. Jr.. interview by Donald E. Welzenbach. tape recording. C:imbridgc.
Massachusetts. 2 November 198-' (S); Land interview (TS Codcword).
" TCP Report. p. 188 (S).
,., Land interview (TS Codeword ).
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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.