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
43 at 1717 H Street, NW. Here the staff remained for the next six years until it moved into the new CIA Headquarters building at Langley in March 1962. The final move came in January 1968, when the project staff (by that time known as the Office of Special Activities) moved to the Tyler Building in Tysons Comer, Virginia.1 Bissell reported directly to the DCI, although in reality the DDCI, Gen. Charles Pearre Cabell, was much more closely involved in the day-to-day affairs of the overhead reconnaissance project. Cabell's extensive background in Air Force intelligence, particularly in overhead reconnaissance, made him ideally qualified to oversee the U-2 project. Cabell frequently attended White House meetings on the U-2 for the DCI. FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS FOR PROJECT AOUATONE Seth!l NOFORN Chapter 2 Although Allen Dulles had approved the concept of covert funding for the reconnaissance project, many financial details remained to be settled, including the contract with Lockheed. Nevertheless. work on the U-2 began as soon as the project was authorized. Between 29 November and 3 December 1954, Kelly Johnson pulled together a team of 25 engineers, which was not easy because he had to take them off other Lockheed projects without being able to explain why to their former supervisors. T he engineers immediately began to work 45 hours a week on the project. The project staff gradually expanded to a total of 8 1 personnel, and the workweek soon increased to 65 hours. 8 DDCI Charles Pearre Cabell Kelly Johnson's willingness to begin work on the aircraft with out a contract illustrates one of the most important aspects of this pro gram: the use of unvouchered funds for covert procurement. Lockheed was well acquainted with the covert procurement process, having previously modified several aircraft for covert use by the CI A. Covert funding for sensiti ve projects sirnpli fies both procure ment and security procedures because the funds are not attributable to the Federal Government and there is no public accountabi lity for their ' OSA History. chap. 18. pp. 7-8 (TS Codeword); OSA Chronology. pp. 4. 7. 10. 45 (TS Codeword). • Johnson. '"Log for Project X ... 29 November-3 December 1954 (U). -Sec.et
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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.