Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and Space

Author Phillip Taubman talked about his book Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America’s Space Espionage, published by Simon and Schuster. The book tells the story of then President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s creation of a revolutionary group of spies and the creation of spy technology, early in the cold war. The purpose of this innovative spy program was to use surveillance on the Soviet Union in the hopes of avoiding a surprise nuclear attack. This group included scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and government officials who were responsible for the creation of the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, the U-2 spy plane, reconnaissance satellites, and ultimately the equipment that would take man into space. Sidney Drell, former member of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and William Perry, former Secretary of Defense (1994-1997) added their comments on the subject. After the presentations the panelists answered questions from members of the audience. close