Technological innovations in the post–World War II environment
prompted new intelligence advances. The National Security Agency
(NSA) was established in 1952 to consolidate cryptology (or inter-
ception of communications), code making and code breaking (on
which cryptology depends), and communications security (COM-
SEC). Combining all these activities in a single agency meant that the
other intelligence agencies would have to depend on the NSA for
their needs in these areas. Thus, the NSAbecame a service agency for
the entire U.S. government, in and out of the intelligence community,
providing services in encryption, communications interception, and
secure communications. The NSA continues to function in this ca-
pacity today.
The launching of the Sputnik satellite in 1957 inaugurated the space
age and gave U.S. intelligence the incentive to delve into new techno-
logical areas. The Sputnik energized U.S. intelligence in the area of aer-
ial and space reconnaissance, especially the satellite program that was
already in the works within the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA) of the Department of Defense. Meanwhile, the CIA had con-
tracted and built the U-2 aircraft in the mid-1950s. The CIAhad also be-
gun to develop the CORONA satellite project that would in the 1960s
return photographic images in film canisters. The CIA soon established
the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) to analyze the
information gleaned from these new technologies.
The urgency of attaining an operational satellite program increased
with the downing of Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 aircraft over the
Soviet Union in 1960. In that year, the air force established the Office of
Missile and Satellite Systems to direct, supervise, and control satellite
development for the military. To facilitate this development, the CIAand
the air force signed an agreement in 1961 to establish the National Re-
connaissance Office (NRO) to oversee and fund research and develop-
ment for reconnaissance aircraft and their sensors, procure space systems
and their associated ground stations, determine launch vehicle require-
ments, operate spacecraft after they attained orbit, and disseminate the
data collected. Because of satellites, overhead reconnaissance rapidly
became the principal source of American intelligence. The NRO re-
mained an official state secret until 1994, when the Department of De-
fense and the CIA acknowledged its existence but refused to declassify
anything else about the organization.INTRODUCTION• xlvii05-398 (1) FM.qxd 10/20/05 6:14 AM Page xlvii