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"In a brief period of explosive, top-secret innovation during the 1950s, a small group of scientists, engineers, businessmen, and government officials rewrote the book on airplane design and led the nation into outer space.
In an effort no less audacious than the creation of the atomic bomb, they designed, built, and operated the U-2 and supersonic SR-71 spy planes and Corona, the first reconnaissance satellites - machines that could collect more information about the Soviet Union's weapons in a day than an army of spies could assemble in a decade.".
"Their remarkable inventions and daring missions made possible arms control agreements with Moscow that helped keep the peace during the cold war, as well as the space-based reconnaissance, mapping, communications, and targeting systems used by America's armed forces in the Gulf War and most recently in Afghanistan. These hugely expensive machines also led to the neglect of more traditional means of intelligence gathering through human spies.".
"Philip Taubman follows this dramatic story from the White House to the CIA, from the Pentagon to Lockheed's Skunk Works in Burbank, from the secret U-2 test base in Nevada to the secret satellite assembly center in Palo Alto and other locations here and abroad. He reveals new information about the origins and evolution of the projects and how close they came to failing technically or falling victim to bureaucratic inertia and Washington's turf wars.".
"The incredibly sophisticated spies in the skies were remarkably successful in proving that the missile gap was a myth in protecting us from surprise Soviet attack. But in some ways, the failure to detect the planning for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, can also be attributed to these powerful machines as the government became increasingly dependent on spy satellites to the neglect of human agents and informants.
Now, as we wage a new and more vicious war against terrorism, we will need both machines in space and spies on the ground to fight back."--BOOK JACKET.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Cold War, United States. Central Intelligence Agency, Space surveillance, United States, U-2 (Reconnaissance aircraft), American Aerial reconnaissance, History, New York Times reviewed, United states, central intelligence agency, Espionage, Astronautics and civilization, United states, politics and government, 1953-1961, Eisenhower, dwight d. (dwight david), 1890-1969, Military reconnaissanceShowing 7 featured editions. View all 7 editions?
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1
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
January 1, 2005, Tantor Media
Audio CD
in English
- Unabridged edition
1400130891 9781400130894
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2
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
February 24, 2004, Simon & Schuster
Paperback
in English
0684857006 9780684857008
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3
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the Cia, And the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
June 30, 2003, Diane Pub Co
Hardcover
in English
0756780578 9780756780579
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aaaa
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4
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
October 31, 2003, Tantor Media
Audio CD
in English
- Unabridged edition
1400100895 9781400100897
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zzzz
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5
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
March 4, 2003, Simon & Schuster
Hardcover
in English
0684856999 9780684856995
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6
Secret empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the hidden story of America's space espionage
2003, Simon & Schuster
in English
0684856999 9780684856995
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7
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
November 1, 2000, Tantor Media
MP3 CD
in English
- MP3 Una edition
1400150892 9781400150892
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Book Details
First Sentence
"HAL AUSTIN HAD always assumed that the first time he flew an American warplane into Russian airspace, Moscow and Leningrad would be burning, incinerated by an American nuclear attack."
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