Jeffrey T Richelson - The wizards of Langley : inside the CIAs Directorate of Science and Technology

To most of the public, reference to the Central Intelligence Agency elicits visions of espionage and covert operations. To the more knowledgeable, the CIA also produces finished intelligencefrom the highly controlled Presidents Daily Brief to a multitude of less exclusive intelligence assessments. Far fewer think of the agency in terms of its efforts to exploit science and technology for intelligence purposes. Even an 800-page history of the agency, published in 1986, included only a few references to the agencys Directorate of Science and Technology. Yet, the history of that directorate is a key element in the history of both the CIA and the entire intelligence community.

The directorate has had a dramatic impact on the collection and analysis of intelligence. Several of the most important collection systems the United States operates today are direct descendants of earlier CIA programs. The directorate has designed and operated some of Americas most important spy satellites as well as the A-12 (OXCART) and U-2 spy planes, been heavily involved in the collection of signals intelligence (SIGINT), and helped pioneer the technical analysis of foreign missile and space programs. Its satellites and SIGINT activities proved vital in allowing intelligence analysts to assess the capabilities of Soviet missile systems. It is also responsible for a number of scientific advancesincluding a key component of heart pacemaker technologythat have been made available for medical and other purposes.

Of course, as might be expected of an organization that has been in existence for almost four decades and has tried to operate on the cutting edge, the directorate has not been completely free from folly. Most notably, it funded research in which alleged psychics attempted to report on activities at Soviet military facilities by viewing those activities from California. And some of its activities would win no awards from animal welfare leagues. But the directorates foresight and successes far outdistance its follies and failures.

One element of the directorates history is the hardware it designed and operated; another is the intelligence it produced through its collection and analysis activities. But at the heart of those activities were individualsmanagers, analysts, technicians, and operators. The individuals involved in the directorates early years overcame a number of obstacles, both bureaucratic and technical, that permitted the directorate to make such a significant contribution to U.S. intelligence capabilities and national security. Others who came along later were instrumental in ensuring that the directorate continued to make key contributions. In each era, a number of those individuals risked their lives in performing their missions.

As part of its celebration of its fiftieth anniversary in 1997, the CIA designated fifty individuals as CIA trailblazers. Included in the list of honorees were four of the seven Deputy Directors for Science and Technology along with numerous directorate employees who made contributions in the areas of signals intelligence, research and development, support to clandestine operations, the design and development of overhead reconnaissance systems, and imagery interpretation. Thus, this book focuses on both the activities and individuals that are crucial elements of the directorates history.

The Wizards of Langley takes the form of a chronological narrative that traces the evolution of the Directorate of Science and Technology over the almost four decades of its existence. The first chapter covers the period 19471961 and tracks the CIAs growing involvement in scientific intelligence analysis as well as the use of technology to collect intelligence. The length of the first chapter is a testament to how deeply involved the agency became in such matters during its first fifteen years. By 1961, the CIA was producing key studies of Soviet and Chinese nuclear weapons programs, operating space and aerial reconnaissance systems, and operating stations along the Soviet periphery to eavesdrop on missile tests.