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17. Walt Ray was, by all accounts, a terrific pilot: Interviews with Colonel Slater, Walt Murray, Ken Collins, Roger Andersen, Charlie Trapp.

18. “flew down to Cabo San Lucas”: Interview with Ken Collins.

19. fuel gauge move suddenly: Briefing Memorandum for Acting Deputy Director for Science and Technology, Subject Loss of Oxcart A-12 Aircraft, 6 January 1967.

20. Walt Ray told Colonel Slater through his headset: Interview with Colonel Slater.

21. “I’m ejecting”: Interview with Colonel Slater. Immediately after the crash Air Force channels reported that an SR-71 flying on a routine flight out of Edwards Air Force Base had gone missing and was presumed down in Nevada.

22. unable to separate from his seat: Memorandum for Acting Deputy Director for Science and Technology, Subject Loss of Article 125 (Oxcart Aircraft), 25 January 1967, 2.

23. Roger Andersen flew in low, in a T-33: Interview with Roger Andersen.

24. Charlie Trapp found the aircraft first: Interview with Charlie Trapp.

25. “‘How’d you like to fly the plane?’”: Interview with Frank Murray.

26. eight-page letter to the president: Top Secret Idealist/Oxcart, Central Intelligence Agency Office of the Director, BYE-2915-66 Alternative A, 14 December 1966.

27. a scandalous waste of an asset: DRAFT, Director of Special Activities, Comments to W.R. Thomas III Memorandum to the Director, BOB, 27 July 1966, 11.

28. Gary Powers incident had actually strengthened: Ibid., 3.

29. the CIA “controls no nuclear weapons”: Top Secret Idealist/Oxcart, Central Intelligence Agency Office of the Director, BYE-2915-66 Alternative A, 14 December 1966, 4.

30. But would the president see things his way: Memorandum for the President, Subject: Advanced Reconnaissance Aircraft, December 26, 1966, Top Secret. Participants included Cyrus Vance (deputy secretary of defense), Donald Hornig (the president’s science adviser), C.W. Fischer (bureau of the budget), and Helms. All except Helms recommended mothballing Oxcart. On December 28, the president approved this memo recommendation and ordered the phaseout of the A-12 fleet by January 1968.

31. Slater was instructed to return to Area 51: Interview with Colonel Slater.

32. ahead of a two-star general: Ibid.

33. Slater went to visit Werner Weiss: Ibid.

Chapter Sixteen: Operation Black Shield and the Secret History of the USS Pueblo

Interviews: Colonel Slater, Ken Collins, Roger Andersen, Hervey Stockman, Peter Stockman, Frank Murray, Ronald L. “Jack” Layton, Eunice Layton, Charlie Trapp

1. “never found have much use for intelligence”: Hathaway and Smith, Richard Helms, 2. The most telling comment comes from Helms (ibid., 7): “With President Johnson… I finally came to the conclusion that what I had to say I should get into the first 60, or at least 120 seconds, that I had on my feet. Because after that he was pushing buttons for coffee or Fresca, or talking to Rusk, or talking to McNamara, or whispering here or whispering there. I had lost my principal audience.”

2. Target Tuesday lunch: Barrett, “Doing ‘Tuesday Lunch,’” 676–77.

3. Helms told the president: John Parangosky, Deputy for Technology, OSA, wrote in summation, “Director of Central Intelligence, Richard Helms, submitted to the 303 Committee another formal proposal to deploy the OXCART. In addition, he raised the matter at President Johnson’s ‘Tuesday Lunch’ on 16 May, and received the Presidents approval to ‘go.’ Walt Rostow later in the day formally conveyed the President’s decision, and the BLACK SHIELD deployment plan was forthwith put into effect.”

4. A million pounds of matériel, 260 support crew: Johnson, History of the Oxcart Program, 1. The three A-12s that were deployed to Kadena flew nonstop from Groom Lake across the Pacific. They refueled twice en route and got to Kadena in a little less than six hours; interview with Colonel Slater, Ken Collins, Frank Murray, Roger Andersen.

5. “the bird should leave the nest”: CIA Director of Special Activities to CIA Director of Reconnaissance,