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's Office of Special Projects was renamed Office of Development and Engineering in April 1973.
The CIA founded the Development Projects Division, which was renamed the Office of Special Activities in 1962.
The CIA official Leslie Dirks decided to use relay satellites for future reconnaissance satellites instead of onboard data storage in 1968.
By August 1979, the CIA confirmed a new launch pad was being built for a new rocket at Baikonur.
By 1980, the CIA concluded the Soviet Union was building a new heavy-lift launch vehicle and a space shuttle to rival NASA's program.
In 1981, the CIA observed new prototype aircraft such as the Su-25 Frogfoot, MiG-29 Fulcrum, and Tu-160 bomber.
The Zhukovsky airbase, known as the Flight Research Institute in Russia, was referred to as Ramenskoye by the CIA.
NASA Administrator James Webb offered cooperation to the CIA when he took office in early 1961.
The CIA installed a new dome atop a mountain next to a field of equipment used to gather information from inside the Soviet Union before the Shah of Iran fell in 1978.
The CIA expanded EGGSHELL to a second location to collect telemetry from the Baikonur launch facility.
The mountaintop facility was known as TACKSMAN and was used by the CIA to monitor Soviet missile launches from the Baikonur missile and rocket launch facility in Kazakhstan.
The CIA contracted Perkin-Elmer to produce a telescope capable of detecting and analyzing lasers fired from ground facilities in Sary Shagan.
The Air Force aimed for Program 437 to intercept Soviet fractional or multi-orbit bombardment systems that the CIA believed the Soviet Union was developing.
In 1962, the CIA evaluated the proposed MURAL-2 concept for higher resolution, but it was not approved.
In June 1960, Hycon Corporation proposed a reconnaissance system using a Mercury spacecraft with a Hycon camera system to the CIA.
Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation proposed an upgraded CORONA camera system to the CIA in April 1960.
Kevin Keating previously worked at the National Reconnaissance Office and most recently at the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science and Technology.
Eric Traupe, a retired United States Marine infantry officer and former Assistant Director of the Central Intelligence Agency for the Near East, will serve as President of Capella Federal.
Andrew Hallman spent over 33 years at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Craig Brower first joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1989 as a photographic specialist.