War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Art Lundahl, 1986
Description:
Art Lundahl founded the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center. In the interview he discusses the role of photoreconnaissance and photointerpretation in the Cuban Missile Crisis. He starts by describing the surprise of discovering offensive missilery, not just defensive missiles, in Cuba. He describes his briefing of President Kennedy, who he recalls was cool and determined. He explains the sense of pride the photointerpreters had in their work during the crisis, keeping the president as up to date as possible. They viewed it as their way of contributing to history. Lundahl emphasizes that photoreconnaissance has proven an effective method for tracking threats to national security, and has served as a major source of military intelligence since World War II. He credits their work during the missile crisis with changing the way the U.S. political leadership engaged with it, especially in the Nuclear Age. He describes the process of photointerpretation, demonstrating how images that might seem unimportant to a layperson can mean a great deal to the trained eye.
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