Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
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Secret NOFORN
Chapter 5
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other means. Although by late 1962 photographic satellites had become an integral part of the overhead collection program, only U-2s could provide the highly detailed photography that photointerpreters needed to spot the early stages of work on missile sites. Attempts had been made to photograph Cuba with satellites, but to no avail because the satellites’ normal orbits placed them over Cuba at the wrong time of day, after clouds had formed.
U-2s Over South America
Agency U-2s again conducted operations in the Western Hemisphere in December 1963. The Directorate of Plans had requested photographic coverage of Venezuela and neighboring British Guiana because of guerrilla activities conducted by a pro-Castro movement inside Venezuela. Supplies for this movement appeared to be coming across the border from British Guiana. On 30 November 1963, the NSC Special Group approved overflights of the British Guiana–Venezuela border to determine the scope and rate of buildup of guerrilla forces. The Special Group stipulated that the entire effort was to be conducted without the knowledge of either the British or the Venezuelans.
Within three days, several Detachment G aircraft and pilots deployed to Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, from which they made six flights over the border areas between 3 and 19 December 1963 in an operation known as SEAFOAM. The results of the effort were inconclusive, and the task force returned to Edwards AFB on 22 December.²¹
U-2 OPERATIONS IN ASIA
Detachment C and the Indonesian Revolt of 1958
U-2 operations in Asia began even before the end of overflights of the Soviet Bloc. By 1958 the Eisenhower administration, although very reluctant to approve U-2 flights over or near Soviet and East European borders, was not averse to using the spyplanes in the Third World, where radar detection was unlikely. Thus, in the spring of 1958, Agency U-2s from Detachment C conducted a major reconnaissance effort over Indonesia, Operation ROBIN HOOD.
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²¹ *OSA History*, chap. 16, pp. 35-36 (TS Codeword).
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Secret
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Approved for Release: 2013/06/25