◆ SpookStack

J:OP SECItI!T request for overflight photo coverage of the islands offshore of Cuba. The decision on this matter was taken up, not only with the Air Force, but also with J. Lampton Berry of the Department of State.* Al- though the authorization and plan for these overflights, presumably by the U-2, antedated the shootdown of Francis Gary Power's U-2 in the Soviet Union, it was recorded that: Ambassador Berry had called to say that the Department ••. had approved the mission, but insisted that extremely tight security be exercised throughout and that Col. Benson (USAF/Operations) inform Ambassador Berry before each sortie so that the Department would 'be properly prepared to respond to any emergency_ 72/ The first flight, incidentally, was tentatively sched- uled for the weekend of 30 April - 1 May of 1960.** In April of 1960, in addition to working with the Army, the Agency representatives also began to work with the Covert Limited Warfare Committee of * Berry was a Career Minister and former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (AE&P) to Ceylon who was at this time assigned to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. ** Powers was shot down over the USSR on 1 May 1960. - 93 - TAP qf7e~ f~ f