Document · July 2018
The National Reconnaissance Office at 50 Years: A Brief History (NRO, second edition, 2018)
Also known as NRO at 50, NRO brief history
The National Reconnaissance Office's own unclassified history, published by its Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance for the agency's 50th anniversary and revised in 2018. It covers the founding of the NRO in 1961, its satellite and aircraft programs, and the 1992 declassification of its existence. It is filed here as the official source for the NRO's dates and for its oversight of the U-2 and A-12/SR-71 aircraft that the CIA links to UFO reports of the 1950s and 1960s.
Sources: NRO (2018), our copy of the NRO PDF
Facts and claims
- documented The NRO's official history, by Dr. Bruce Berkowitz with Michael Suk of the NRO's Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance (second edition, July 2018). Source: doc-nro-brief-history.pdf
- documented It records that the NRO was established on 6 September 1961, and that “the existence of the NRO was declassified on 17 September 1992.” Source: doc-nro-brief-history.pdf
- documented It lists “Program D, the Air Force and CIA aerial reconnaissance program, comprising all national assets, including the U-2 and A-12/SR-71 programs”. Source: doc-nro-brief-history.pdf
Connected files
Organizations
- National Reconnaissance Office (produced by)
Mentioned in this file
- Central Intelligence Agency (Organization)
More documents
- CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90 (Gerald K. Haines, Studies in Intelligence, 1997)
- U.S. Defense Attaché / DIA report: UFO sighting in Iran, 19 September 1976 (NSA-released reproduction)
- Robertson Panel report (Durant Report): Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects
- CIA memorandum: “Flying Saucers” (Office of Scientific Intelligence to the Director of Central Intelligence)
- ODNI Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
- Intelligence Community Directive 906: Controlled Access Programs