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

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Sec, ct NOl'OP\111
Chapter 1
the task of investigating the nation's intelligence capabilities. Its
chairman was Edwin H. (Din) Land, the inventor of the polarizing fil­
ter and the instant camera. When James Killian asked Land to head
Project Three, Land had to make a major decision about his caree:r. At
the time, the 45-year-old millionaire was on a leave of absence from
Polaroid and was living in Hollywood, advising Alfred Hitchcock on
the technological aspects of making three-dimensional movies. Land
decided to give up his interest in cinema's third dimension and return
east to Polaroid and the panel appointmem!
1
Land's Project Three was the smallest of the three Technological
Capabilities Panel projects, for he preferred what he called " taxicab
committees··-committees small enough to fit into a single taxicab.
The Project Three committee consisted of Land; James Baker and
Edward Purcell of Harvard; chemist Joseph W. Kennedy of
Washington University, St. Louis: mathematician John W. Tuke:y of
Princeton University and Bell Telephone Laboratories: and A llen
Latham, Jr .. of Arthur D. Little. lnc., an engineer and former treasurer
of the Polaroid Corporation:~
Edwin H. Land
[n mid-August 1954. Land and Baker went to Washington t,o ar­
range for the various intelligence organizations to brief the Project
Three study group. As the briefings progressed. the panel members
became more and more distressed at the poor state of the nation's in­
telligence resources. Land later noted, "We would go in and interview
generals and admirals in charge of intelligence and come away wor­
ried. Here we were, five or six young men. asking questions that these
high-ranking officers couldn't answer." Land added that the Prnject
Three members were also not overly impressed with the Central
Intelligence Agency.~·
1
Land learned the details of Lockheed's proposed CL-282 aircraft
soon after he arrived in Washington. Philip Strong showed him Kelly
Johnson's conceptual drawing of the plane and told him that the: Air
Force had rejected it. Although Land had heard Allen Donovan
'' James R. Killian. Jr .. interview by Donald E. Welzenbach. tape recording. C:imbridgc.
Massachusetts. 2 November 198-' (S); Land interview (TS Codcword).
" TCP Report. p. 188 (S).
,., Land interview (TS Codeword).
Sec,et