Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
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Secret NOFORN
Chapter 1
21
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The Air Force Intelligence Systems Panel
Even before the publication of photographs of the Bison raised fears that the Soviet bomber force might eventually surpass that of the United States, the Air Force had already established a new advisory body to look for ways to implement the main recommendation of the BEACON HILL Report—the construction of high-flying aircraft and high-acuity cameras. Created in July 1953, the Intelligence Systems Panel (ISP) included several experts from the BEACON HILL Study Group: Land, Overhage, Donovan, and Miller. At the request of the Air Force, the CIA also participated in the panel, represented by Edward L. Allen of the Office of Research and Reports (ORR) and Philip Strong of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI).36
The chairman of the new panel was Dr. James G. Baker, a research associate at the Harvard College Observatory. Baker had been involved in aerial reconnaissance since 1940, when he first advised the Army Air Corps on ways to improve its lenses. He then established a full-scale optical laboratory at Harvard—the Harvard University Optical Research Laboratory—to produce high-quality
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36 Memorandum for Robert Amory, Jr., Deputy Director, Intelligence from Edward L. Allen, Chief, Economic Research, ORR and Philip G. Strong, Chief, Operations Staff, OSI, “Meeting of the Intelligence Systems Panel of the Scientific Advisory Board, USAF,” 26 August 1953, OSI (OSWR) records, job 80R-01424, box 1 (S).
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Secret
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Approved for Release: 2013/06/25