in Vietnam. Spring:Castro signs trade agreement with USSR. 1 May:
Soviet Union downs a U-2 plane flown by Francis Gary Powers.July:
First CIA plan to assassinate Fidel Castro; plan called off.10 August:
First successful launch of CORONA spy satellite.25 August:Central
Intelligence Agency and the air force agree to establish the National Re-
connaissance Office (NRO).
1961 CIAand air force agreement to establish the NRO comes into ef-
fect. The Soviet Union erects a wall in Berlin separating its sector from
that of the Western powers. National Security Council creates the Na-
tional Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) from CIA’s Photo-
graphic Interpretation Center to serve national customers. Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara establishes the Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA). May:CIA supplies weapons to Dominican dissidents,
who assassinate Rafael Trujillo. 17 April:Bay of Pigs invasion of
Cuba. June:President John F. Kennedy meets with Soviet premier
Khrushchev in Vienna. 30 November:President Kennedy authorizes
“Operation Mongoose,” covert operation to remove Castro.
1962 Defense Intelligence School established. 10 February:Soviet
spy Rudolph Abel (William Fischer) is exchanged for U-2 pilot Francis
Gary Powers.April:SR-71 spy plane makes its first flight. 14 October:
CIA discovers Soviet medium-range missiles in Cuba.27 October:
President Kennedy goes on nationwide television to announce “quaran-
tine” of Cuba; the height of Cuban Missile Crisis. 29 October:The So-
viet Union backs down and agrees to remove its missiles from Cuba.
October:President Kennedy terminates Operation Mongoose. 22 No-
vember:President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
1963 10 October:Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (LNTBT) takes
effect.
1963–1966 “Confrontation,” undeclared war between Britain,
Malaysia, and Indonesia; Indonesia attempts to break up Malaysian
Federation through guerrilla insurgency; Britain beats attempt back
through successful counterinsurgency techniques.
1964 7 August:Congress adopts Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
1965 President Johnson orders American troops into Dominican Re-
public.
1966 June:Richard Helms becomes DCI.xxx •CHRONOLOGY05-398 (1) FM.qxd 10/20/05 6:14 AM Page xxx