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

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39
Sec, et NOPOPU~
Chapter 2
Developing the U-2
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE U-2 PROJECT
On 26 November 1954, the day after Thanksgiving, Allen Dulles
called his special assistant. Richard Bissell, into his office to te:ll him
that President Eisenhower had just approved a very secret program
and that Dulles wanted Bissell to take charge of it. Saying it was too
?~cret for him to explain, Dulles gave Bissell a packet of docuiments
and told him he could keep it for several days to acquaint himself
with the project. Bissell had long known of the proposal to build a
high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, but only in the most general
terms. Now he learned in detail about the project that proposed send­
ing aircraft over the Soviet Union.
Late on the morning of 2 December 1954, Dulles told Bissell to
go to the Pentagon on the following day to represent the Agency at an
organizational meeting for the U-2
1 project. Before leaving, Bissell
asked Dulles which agency was to run the project. The DCI replied
that nothing had been clearly decided. Bissell then asked who was
going to pay for the project. Dulles answered: "That wasn'li even
mentioned. You'11 have to work that out."
2
Bissell was accompanied by Herbert I. Miller, chief of the Office
of Scientific Intelligence's Nuclear Energy Division, who soon be­
came the executive officer of the overflight project. When Bissell and
Miller arrived at the Pentagon on the afternoon of 3 Decembeli, they
' Although the Lockheed CL-282 was not designated as the U-2 until July 1955, this
study will use the more widely known designator to avoid confusion.
Bissell interview {S); OSA History, chap. 3, p. 1 {TS Codeword).
5earet
1