The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974.

Abstract

This History Staff Monograph offers a comprehensive and authoritative history of the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program, which from 1954 to 1974 developed and operated two extraordinary aircraft, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It describes not only the program's technological and bureaucratic aspects, but also its political and international context. The manned reconnaissance program, along with other overhead systems that emerged from it, changed the CIA's work and structure in ways that were both revolutionary and permanent. The formation of the Directorate of Science and Technology in the 1960s, principally to develop and direct reconnaissance programs, is the most obvious legacy of the events recounted in this study.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA355539

Entities

People

  • Donald E. Welzenbach
  • Gregory W. Pedlow

Organizations

  • Central Intelligence Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Cameras
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Intelligence Collection
  • International Relations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Photographs
  • Photography
  • Reconnaissance Aircraft
  • Surveillance
  • Terrain

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design