Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

ITEK.Atechnical contractor for sophisticated satellite reconnaissance

cameras employed in CORONAfrom 1957 until 1965. The Central

Intelligence Agency (CIA) was Itek’s principal consumer, such that

by 1963, Itek’s classified operations produced 57 percent of the

firm’s sales and accounted for 75 perecent of its pretax income. This

dependence on a single consumer eventually stripped Itek of its com-

petitive advantage and thrust the company into financial difficulties.

In 1965, Itek’s leadership decided to withdraw from its CIA con-

tracts, and Itek did not receive any subsequent CIAcontract after its

decision to pull out of its CIAcommitments. In the 1966–1967 pe-

riod, Itek made some gadgets for the space program. It also contin-

ued to build CORONAsatellites until the program’s end in 1972. Lit-

ton Industries bought the firm in the early 1980s. See alsoIN-Q-TEL.

IVY BELLS (OPERATION). Ivy Bells was a joint navy–National

Security Agency (NSA) operation initiated in the 1970s to tap into

Sovietcommunications in the Sea of Oskotsk in the Pacific. The ac-

tion involved stealthy U.S. submarines entering the denied area and

placing wraparound, nonpenetrating pods around the undersea cable

carrying highly classified Soviet communications. The pods were de-

signed to fall off in the event the Soviets raised the cable. U.S sub-

marines would return every six to eight weeks to collect the record-

ings in the pods. The tapes were then delivered to the NSA for

processing and distribution to military and civilian consumers.

The operation came to an end in 1981 when Soviet authorities dis-

covered the pods. Apostmortem investigation revealed that Ronald

Pelton, an NSAemployee, had sold the secret to the Soviets. Consid-

ered one of the more successful intelligence gathering operation of

the Cold War, Ivy Bells provided U.S. intelligence with significant

information on Soviet military operations in the Pacific.

– J –

JENNIFER (PROJECT). Jennifer was a secret Central Intelligence

Agency(CIA) effort to raise a sunken Soviet submarine from the Pa-

cific seabed in the summer of 1974. The Soviet submarine had sunk

on 11 April 1968, and the Soviets had been unable to raise their

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