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

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Sec, et MOF'ORI\I
Chapter 3
May 1959, and used to fly weather missions on 7 and 8 May before
returning to Adana. Two more weather-sampling flights took place
over England on 5 and 6 October 1959.
THE U-2 PROJECT AT THE BEGINNING OF 1959
Early 1959 saw Detachment B aircraft active primarily over Middle
Eastern countries, with occasional overflights of Albania to check for
reported Soviet missile installations. Detachment C mainly collected
high-altitude weather data, although it also flew two missions over
Tibet and Southwest China (see chapter 5). The overflight program
against the Soviet Union seemed to be at a standstill, but pressures
within the government were building to resume deep-penetration
flights to resolve the growing "missile-gap" controversy.
Organizationally, the U-2 project underwent a major change after
Richard Bissell became CIA's Deputy Director for Plans on I January
1959. At first glance, Bissell's selection seems unusual because he
• liad spent most of his Agency career heading the U-2 project, but his
first major assignment had been coordinating support for the opera­
tion that overthrew the leftist Government of Guatemala in 1954.
Furthermore, Bissell's U-2 project was the major covert collector 0f
intelligence against the CIA's primary target, the Soviet Union.
During his years as head of the Development Projects Staff
(DPS), Bissell had opposed proposals to bring all Agency air activi­
ties together into a single office, fearing that he would lose control of
the U-2 project. Once he became Deputy Director for Plans, his view­
point changed; he was now in a position to consolidate all air activi­
ties under his own control. On 16 February 1959, the DPS became the
Development Projects Division (DPD) of the Directorate of Plans (at
the time known as the Deputy Directorate/Plans or DDP). Despite the
tremendous increase in the scope of his duties after assuming control
of the DDP, Bissell retained personal control of his previous
Development Projects Staff projects: the U-2 program, another pro­
ject to develop a photosatellite, and a third project to design a fol­
low-on aircraft for the U-2 (OXCART). Although the amalgamation
of all Agency air operations and the transfer of the U-2 project to the
DDP made sense, the question remained as to whether one individual
could effectively control all these different activities.
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