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.
“Mission Control”27 pages
36 Sec, et NOP'ORl\1 Chapter 1 On 19 November, the day after Seaberg's briefing, the final deci sion on the CL-282 came at a luncheon hosted by Air Force Secretary Talbott. The participants-Dulles and Cabell from the CIA; Gardner, Ayer, and General Putt from the Air Force; Kelly Johnson; and Edwin Land-all agreed "that the special item of material described by Lockheed was practical and desirable and would be sought. ... It was agreed that the Project should be a joint Air Force-CIA one but that, regardless of the source of the funds, whether AF or CIA. CIA unvouchered channels would be needed to pass the funds.,,,,., It is interesting to note that Lockheed, which had originally de veloped the CL-282 on its own and had devoted considerable effort to promoting it, had to be persuaded to undertake the project in November 1954 because the company had become heavily committed to several other civilian and military projects. When Kelly Johnson received a call from Trevor Gardner on l 7 November asking him to come to Washington for conversations on the project, his instructions from Lockheed's senior management were ''to not commit to any program during the visit, but to get the information and return." When he returned to California, Johnson noted in his project log that "I was impressed with the secrecy aspect and was told by Gardner that I was essentially being drafted for the project. It seemed, in fact, that if I did not talk quietly, I might have to take a leave of absence from my job at Lockheed to do this special project." 05 Of course, Kelly Johnson did not need to be drafted or persuaded into undertak ing such a bold step forward in aircraft design. He used Gardner's statement to convince Lockheed's senior management to approve the project, which they did after meeting with Johnson when he returned to California on the evening of I 9 November. Four days later, on 23 November, the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) approved DCI Dulles's request to undertake the CL-282 project. The following day Dulles signed a three-page mem orandum, drafted by DDCI Cabell. asking President Eisenhower to approve the overhead reconnaissance project. That same afternoon, at a meeting attended by the Secretaries of State and Defense and senior Air Force officials. Dulles and Cabell presented the document to the "" Charles Pearre Cabell, Memorandum for the Record...Luncheon Meeting with the Secretary of the Air Force,.. 19 November 1954. in OSA History. chap. 2, annex 4 (TS Codeword). "" Johnson, "Log for Project X," 17 and 19 :-.:ovember 1954. 6eerati
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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.