35+ YEARS OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACTION
The photographs that make up the vast majority of this section come from the Dino A. Brugioni collection at the National Security Archive. Brugioni was a career CIA officer in charge of "all-source" intelligence and briefing preparation at the National Photographic Interpretation Center in 1962. He later authored Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, (New York: Random House, 1991).
- The U-2 plane
- August 29, 1962: U-2 photograph showing no construction at San Cristobal
- August 29, 1962: U-2 photograph showing no construction at Guanajay
- August 29, 1962: U-2 photograph of SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM) site under construction at La Coloma
- Completed SA-2 missile site showing characteristic Star of David pattern.
- October 5, 1962: CIA chart of “reconnaissance objectives in Cuba.”
- Inside the CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), Washington D.C., 1962.
- September 15, 1962: photograph of the Soviet large-hatch ship Poltava on its way to Cuba.
- “Crateology” – photograph of crates holding Komar guided-missile patrol boats on their way to Cuba, September 1962.
- Briefing version of the crate photograph with Komar image superimposed.
- September 26, 1962: U-2 photograph showing surface-to-surface cruise missile (named “Kennel” by the U.S., FKR in Soviet plans) launch area at Banes.
- CIA reference photograph of Soviet cruise missile in its air-launched configuration.
- September 28, 1962: photograph of Soviet ship Kasimov with IL-28 bomber fuselages in crates.
- October 14, 1962: U-2 photograph of a truck convoy approaching a deployment of Soviet MRBMs near Los Palacios at San Cristobal. This photograph was the first one identified by NPIC on 15 October as showing Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba.
- October 14, 1962: U-2 photograph of MRBM site two nautical miles away from the Los Palacios deployment – the second set of MRBMs found in Cuba. This site was subsequently named San Cristobal no. 1 (the photo is labeled 15 October for the day it was analyzed and printed).
- CIA reference photograph of Soviet medium-range ballistic missile (SS-4 in U.S. documents, R-12 in Soviet documents) in Red Square, Moscow.
- CIA briefing board for JFK showing range of Soviet MRBMs (Bobby Kennedy on 16 October jokingly asked whether the missiles could hit Oxford, Mississippi, where federal marshals had intervened only two weeks earlier, so Oxford was included). PSALM was the special codeword for intelligence data on missiles in Cuba, a compartment created at President Kennedy’s insistence for greater control of this sensitive information.
- October 15, 1962: U-2 photograph of IL-28 bomber crates at San Julian airfield.
- October 17, 1962: U-2 photograph of first IRBM site found under construction.
- October 18, 1962: White House photograph of President Kennedy meeting with Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko and Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin – in which JFK does not reveal he knows about the missiles, and Gromyko asserts that Soviet military assistance is purely defensive.
- October 23, 1962: U.S. Navy low-level photograph of San Cristobal MRBM site no. 1 (mission led by Commander William Ecker).
- October 23, 1962: U.S. Navy low-level photograph of nuclear warhead bunker under construction at San Cristobal no. 1.
- NPIC drawing of nuclear warhead bunker under construction.
- October 23, 1962: U.S. Navy low-level photograph of Sagua la Grande MRBM site.
- October 24, 1962: Low-level photograph of the Poltava, turning back towards Moscow, carrying IRBM missiles (circled are the IRBM launch rings on trucks).
- October 25, 1962: Low-level photograph of San Cristobal no. 1 showing extensive tracking from surging construction and possible missile readiness drills.
- Low-level photograph of San Cristobal no. 1 suggesting missile readiness drills.
- October 25, 1962: U.S. Navy surveillance of first Soviet F-class submarine to surface near the quarantine line (conning tower number 945, Soviet fleet number B-130, commanded by Shumkov).
- Confrontation at the United Nations, October 25, 1962: deputy NPIC director David Parker points out the photographic evidence while U.S. ambassador Adlai Stevenson (at right) describes the photos. USSR ambassador Valerian Zorin is presiding at far left.
- U-2 photograph of Soviet troop encampment at Holguin.
- Low-level photograph of Soviet unit insignia displayed in front of their camp.
- October 26, 1962: The U.S. destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy stops, boards and inspects the Marucla, a dry-cargo ship of Lebanese registry under Soviet charter to Cuba.