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and CIA drone strikes are not made public. As per my interview with Pentagon officials, “That we can’t confirm or deny.” State Department officials also refuse to comment on CIA drone attacks and deflect attempts to get confirmation on the CIA’s role in drone operations. While visiting Pakistan in December of 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a group of journalists who were inquiring specifically about drone strikes, “I’m not going to comment on any particular tactic or technology.” In reality, the strategic partnership between the CIA and the Air Force that began with Bissell’s CIA and LeMay’s Air Force in 1955 is back together again.

21. the Beast of Kandahar: Originally reported by Air & Cosmos magazine, http://www.air-cosmos.com/site/, the story was quickly picked up in the U.S. press. David Hambling, “Mysteries Surround Afghanistan’s Stealth Drone,” Wired magazine, Danger Room Blog, December 4, 2009; interview with unnamed Lockheed official.

22. Defense Department confirmed: Interview with secretary of the Air Force, Public Affairs Engagements Office.

23. synthetic aperture radar, or SAR: Sandia National Laboratories: Synthetic Aperture Radar: What is Synthetic Aperture Radar? Sandia Synthetic Aperture Radar Programs (Unclassified programs and participants); http://www.sandia.gov/.

24. thirty miles south of Area 51, at Indian Springs: Physical tour of Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nevada, October 9, 2009.

25. “Wicked Problems”: “Report of the Defense Science Board, 2008 Summer Study on Capability Surprise, Volume II: Supporting Papers, January 2010. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense For Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, Washington, DC, 20301-3140, chapter 2, Appendix 2-A, Wicked Problems, 127–31.

26. “playing the game changes the game”: Ibid., 127.

27. shot down one of their own: Carl Hoffman, “China’s Space Threat: How Missiles Could Target U.S. Satellites,” Popular Mechanics, July 2007.

28. The official Pentagon story: Jim Garamone, “Navy to Shoot Down Malfunctioning Satellite,” American Forces Press Service, February 14, 2008; “Navy Says Missile Smashed Wayward Satellite,” MSNBC.com News Services, February 21, 2008; “U.S. Missile Shoots Down Satellite—But Why?” Christian Science Monitor, February 22, 2008.

29. not required to tell the truth to Congress: Killian, Sputnik, Scientists and Eisenhower, 25.

30. “A satellite cannot simply drop a bomb”: Ibid., 287. Killian originally wrote this as “a study of space science and technology made at the request of the President for the non technical reader,” which was released from the White House on March 26, 1958. “Much has been written about space as a future war theatre, raising such questions as satellite bombers, military bases on the moon and so on… most of these schemes, nevertheless, appear to be clumsy and ineffective ways of doing a job. Take one example, the satellite as a bomb carrier. A satellite simply cannot drop a bomb.”

31. by his own admission, was not a scientist: James Killian had only an undergraduate degree in management, as per my interview with MIT’s archivist who researched the question for me in March of 2010.

32. United States Space Surveillance Network: NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, Frequently Asked Questions, July 2009, http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/faqs.html.

33. “A one-centimeter object is very hard to track”: Carl Hoffman, “China’s Space Threat: How Missiles Could Target U.S. Satellites,” Popular Mechanics, July 2007.

34. “spy satellites launched into space”: Interview with Colonel Leghorn.

35. Leghorn founded the Itek Corporation: Itek, which stood for Information (I) Technology (tek), was founded in 1957 with seed money from venture capitalist Laurance Rockefeller. Itek built Corona cameras from the beginning of the program until Corona ended in 1972. The CIA/NRO follow-on systems were contracted out to Perkin-Elmer; interviews with Colonel Leghorn, Dr. Wheelon. In his memoir, Helms wrote, “Corona flew 145 secret missions, with equally rewarding results,” 267.

36. Leghorn spent decades