The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a significant, though often covert, role in the space industry, primarily focused on intelligence gathering and national security. Historically, the CIA managed the CORONA program, a series of reconnaissance satellites used for photographic surveillance during the Cold War. More recently, the CIA has been investing in commercial space technologies and satellite programs to augment its intelligence capabilities, working with private sector companies to acquire cutting-edge tools. The CIA also analyzes other nations' space programs and milestones.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The CIA assessed in September 1984 that Iran had 10 to 15 operational F-14 Tomcats split between Isfahan and Shiraz air bases.
John Rood previously held senior roles at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon and worked at the State Department, the White House National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Program B was the CIA component of the National Reconnaissance Office and was located at CIA Headquarters.
The Secretary of the Air Force Office of Special Projects supported CIA payloads such as the CORONA reconnaissance satellite.
The Soviet rocket project at Tyuratam eventually included an engineering test model that the CIA labeled the J vehicle.
The CIA designated the Soviet launch complex in Kazakhstan as Tyuratam, while the Soviets called it Baikonur.
The CIA labeled the project at Tyuratam as Complex J after naming earlier locations A through I.
Carl Duckett linked the likelihood of a December 1968 Apollo 8 manned circumlunar flight to direct intelligence support from the CIA’s Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center.
The CIA’s April 1968 assessment said the Soviets soon would probably attempt another unmanned circumlunar flight.
The CIA’s April 1968 Memorandum to Holders judged Zond 4 to be a partial success except for reentry and recovery.
The CIA’s April 1968 Memorandum to Holders designated the Soviet Zond 4 mission as a circumlunar simulation.
The CIA’s Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center was established in late 1963 to analyze foreign, primarily Soviet, missiles and spacecraft.
By October 1968, the CIA’s Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center provided direct intelligence support and personal briefings to senior officials at NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, and the Presidential Science Advisory Council.
The CIA’s April 1968 assessment said the Soviets would probably attempt a manned circumlunar flight in 1968 or 1969.
The CIA created the CREST declassification program that released millions of pages of documents before the program was curtailed in the early 2000s.
In the early 1970s the Air Force began development of the Satellite Data System (SDS) communications relay satellite with the CIA responsible for the relay payload.
The CIA tentatively approved the development of the new camera named MURAL for the upgraded KH-3 satellite.
The CIA believed the Ogonek photograph was taken at Launch Area D-1 of the Tyuratam Missile Test Center, known in the Soviet Union as Baikonur.
The CIA correlated the satellite imagery with a photograph of an SS-7 launch published by the Soviet magazine Ogonek in June 1965.
By late 1980, the CIA estimated that 17 ships of eight different classes of major surface combatants were under construction or outfitting at Soviet naval shipyards.