The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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114
Secret NOFORI\I
Chapter 3
military and foreign policy planners needed immediate information
about developments in the eastern Mediterranean. Detachment A was,
therefore, assigned the first Middle East overflights. On 29 August,
U-2 missions 1104 and 1105 left Wiesbaden and overflew the eastern
Mediterranean littoral, starting with Greece, then Egypt, Israel,
Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. Because these target areas were beyond
the round trip range of the Wiesbaden-based U-2s, the planes landed
at Adana for refueling. The next day, the same two planes, with dif­
ferent pilots, took off from Adana and overflew the same Middle East
territory, this time including the Gaza Strip, before returning to
Wiesbaden. The film contained evidence of large numbers of British
troops on Malta and Cyprus and more new French-made aircraft in
Israel than had previously been reported."'"'
As the situation around Suez grew more tense, the Eisenhower
administration decided to release some of the U-2 photos to the
British Government. On 7 September, James Reber, chairman of the
Ad Hoc Requirements Committee, and Arthur Lundahl, chief of the
Photo Intelligence Division, flew to London, taking with them photos
of the eastern Mediterranean area, including the Suez Canal, taken on
.
.
30 August. These were the first and the only photos of the Middle
East that the President authorized to be given to the British during the
1956 crisis!5
The Eisenhower administration viewed the developments in the
eastern Mediterranean with great concern. To keep the President and
Secretary of State abreast of developments in the area, Deputy
Director for Intelligence Robert Amory established on 12 September
a multiagency group known as the PARAMOUNT Committee to
monitor the situation on a round-the-clock basis. The PARAMOUNT
Committee worked inside PID headquarters in the Steuart Building.
Composed of members from CIA, State, NSA, Army, Navy, and Air
Force, this committee met daily-frequently several times a day-to
produce reports based on information obtained from U-2 photogra­
phy, communications and electronic intelligence, and agents. The
photointerpreters working for the PARMOUNT committee also came
from several agencies: the CIA, the Army, and the Navy.46
.... Mission folders 1104 (29 August 1956) and 1105 (29 August 1956), OSA records, job
67-8-972, box 6 (TS Codeword).
" Lundahl and Brugioni interview (TS Codeword); NP/C History, vol. I, pp. 56-58 (S).
.. NP/C History, vol. I. pp. 47-49, 54-56 (S).
Secret