Sidney Graybeal served on the Defense Policy Board, and was on the negotiating team for the SALT I agreements. In the interview he discusses his role in providing intelligence during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. He describes the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, and explains the collaborative efforts of photo-interpreters and intelligence analysts to determine the type of missiles and their operational status. One of the sources of information analysts exploited, he notes, were the photographs of missiles frequently paraded through Red Square. Soviet spy Oleg Penkovsky was another important source. He describes briefing President Kennedy and Secretary of Defense McNamara at the first Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) meeting, and explains the importance of telling them exactly what he did and did not know. He describes the subsequent intelligence gathering and the steady pace at which the Soviets drew closer to operational readiness. While no one was certain if the nuclear warheads were in Cuba or mated to their missile bases, he believed they were; however, he was not alarmed by the prospect of a nuclear attack because he expected the Soviets would try to avoid that at all costs.
