STATEMENT OF JOHN A. MCCONE, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, ACCOMPANIED BY LAWRENCE R. HOUSTON, GENERAL COUNSEL, JOHN S. WARNER, LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL AND MORSE ALLEN, CIA; MAJOR HARRY CORDES, U.S. AIR FORCE, AND ROBERT GOODNOW, PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSULTANT

Mr. MCCONE. Mr. Chairman, there are a few notes I have. I see no reason to read the memorandum.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed.

Mr. MCCONE. First, I have been asked many questions as to the purpose in securing Powers' release. The purpose was twofold; first, an understandable human desire to secure the release of a young man captured and imprisoned, and when acting under our direction. This has been and will continue to be our policy in other instances if they should occur.

Second, and perhaps of greater importance to the national interest, was to determine beyond a reasonable doubt if the U-2 plane was actually brought down by ground-to-air fire or otherwise from a very high altitude. If this fact was established, then the U-2 has obviously been compromised and cannot be safely used where such defensive installations exist. If, on the other hand, the investigation we conducted would prove that the U-2 descended from its altitude because of engine failure and, hence, finally came down within reach of Soviet fighter planes and was shot down, then the U-2 might make further very important contributions to our national security.

It is, therefore, in our national interest to know all ascertainable facts concerning this incident. For that reason the Powers-Abel exchange, in my opinion, has served the interests of the United States.

THE INTERROGATION OF POWERS

Turning to the interrogation of Powers: Powers, on his return, was first carefully examined by doctors who reported that he was in good physical condition, normal mental condition, and showed no signs whatsoever of abnormalities as a result of his imprisonment or any treatment he might have been subjected to during the period of his imprisonment. This examination, which continued throughout the period of his interrogation, was made by competent physicians, by psychiatrists and psychologists who were chosen because of their knowledge of brainwashing, truth serums, and other techniques which might have been applied.

One of these specialists is present now.

On the basis of these reports, the Board of Inquiry and the CIA have concluded that Powers' physical and mental condition and treatment during imprisonment would not distort his story regardless of what it was.

In connection with this interrogation, we selected a team of the most competent interrogators available to us, who questioned Powers intermittently over a period of 5 days concerning the incident and all related matters. These interrogators were chosen on the basis of their experience and, most particularly, because of their objectivity. We wanted men who, to our knowledge, were not

prejudiced in the case, and also men skilled in interrogation techniques. In this respect I think the executives of CIA were successful.

One of these interrogators is here to answer your questions.

All conversations were recorded and transcribed and were carefully studied by the Board of Inquiry, which I will refer to later, and by a technical evaluation group established by the U.S. Air Force, at my request, to render a judgment as to whether a plane damaged as Powers said his plane was damaged, could behave as he claimed it did behave, with the effects of the pilot which he claims he experienced.

As the paper before you indicates, the interrogators were satisfied that Powers' story was correct, that it was supported by collateral intelligence unknown to him, and that there were no contradictions which raised questions in their minds.

CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE

They therefore have reported that the Powers U-2 plane was damaged while flying at 68,000 feet. Actually it was above 68,000 feet, but this information remains classified.

While the exact nature of the cause of the damage cannot be established, circumstances lead to the conclusion that the damage was caused by the explosion of a ground-to-air non-nuclear missile. The explosion occurred some distance behind the plane, but close enough to so impair the stabilizer as to render the plane uncontrollable.

The plane acted as reported in the paper before you, and Powers was exposed to forces of gravity, which explains his difficulty throughout his descent. These have been carefully examined by experts.

The loss of control, the nosing over of the plane, the tearing off of the wings, the inverted spin assumed by the fuselage and the remaining parts of the plane, and the gravity forces on the pilot have all been studied by competent aerodynamicists and aeronautical engineers, who report that all these events would all occur in the manner described by Mr. Powers. In other words, there was no inconsistency between what Mr. Powers said happened and what scientists feel would happen under such circumstances.

A further point that has been examined is the extent of the damage of the remnants of the plane. Some have stated that a plane falling from such height would suffer far greater damage than was evidenced by pictures of the remnants of the Powers' U-2.

Aeronautical engineers who examined photographs of the remnants of four other U-2's which failed at 68,000 feet or above, find no appreciable difference between the condition of the remnants in each of these planes and the pictures of the Powers' U-2. This point was therefore dismissed by the experts.

SPECULATION THAT THE PLANE HAD DESCENDED

Conflicting intelligence which led to the speculation that Powers' plane descended gradually to an altitude of 35,000 to 40,000 feet, has also been examined.

As you will recall, Mr. Chairman, there was considerable speculation in the press that Powers was not shot down at 68,000 feet, but that his engine flamed out and he descended gradually, and finally was shot down when he came within range of Soviet interceptors. [Deleted.]

This information has been examined and reexamined by the Board of Inquiry. This [deleted] caused the Board to question the dependability and reliability of this particular information. Moreover, the fact that the information itself is in certain important details contradictory, contributed to the conclusion that such information cannot be accepted as dependable intelligence upon which Mr. Powers' story could be refuted.

[Deleted.]

POWERS' POLYGRAPH TEST

When Mr. Powers was confronted with the conflicting information, he requested, as the paper before you states, a polygraph test. He was under the polygraph for 5 hours, an inordinately long time for a polygraph test. The test was conducted by the most expert polygraph tester in the agency.

The results were positive. There were no reactions which, in the opinion of the experts, could be interpreted as indicating that Mr. Powers was deviating from the truth with respect to any essential aspects of the inquiry, including, of course, his story of the event which damaged his plane and the subsequent events during his descent.

His insistence on subjecting himself to a polygraph and the results of the tests have an important bearing on the conclusions of the Board and the agency.

[Deleted.]

THE BOARD OF INQUIRY

As has been reported, I appointed a Board of Inquiry to examine into this matter carefully and to report the findings to me. The Board was composed of three distinguished and knowledgeable citizens: retired Judge E. Barrett Prettyman, who was former Chief Justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; General Harold R. Bull, a man of great experience in both military and intelligence matters; and John Bross, a very senior CIA staff officer of long experience, of legal background and no previous direct connection with the U-2 project. This Board spent 10 days studying all available facts and interrogating a great number of witnesses and specialists, including Mr. Powers himself.

They rendered a report to me, and then I met for several hours with the Board to personally review the reasons for their conclusions, and more particularly to examine the conflicts to which I referred earlier. The Board reached the conclusions stated in the final paragraph of the paper before you.

After a long and intense discussion with the Board and the consideration of all other information available to me at this time, I concur with the findings and concur in the findings of the Board. Those findings are to the effect, and I will quote:

"On all the information available, therefore, it is the conclusion of the Board of Inquiry which reviewed Mr. Powers' case," and my conclusion as well, after carefully studying the Board report and discussing it with them, "that Mr. Powers lived up to the terms of his employment and instructions in connection with his mission and in his obligations as an American under the circumstances in which he found himself. Accordingly, the amount due Mr. Powers under the terms of this contract will be paid to him."

That concludes my notes extending the statement that was made public.

SOVIET TREATMENT OF PRISONERS

The CHAIRMAN. Why do you think, Mr. McCone, the Russians did not resort to greater pressure, if not torture on Mr. Powers? How do you account for their apparently rather lenient treatment?

Mr. MCCONE. It seems to be rather characteristic of their treatment of men who are imprisoned in this way. It was exactly the way they treated the two fliers on the RB-47 that was shot down a year or two ago, or were released about a year ago, you will recall. This man was not part of any espionage system. He was a flier and employed to pilot a plane and to operate a mechanism in the plane which he didn't know too much about, although he knew the purpose of the-

The CHAIRMAN. It is much more clearly espionage than the RB47 flyers, though, wasn't it? They were off the coast.

Mr. MCCONE. I do not think it more clearly espionage. It was over the country rather than offshore. But the purposes of that flight were very clearly known, which was to establish certain facts with reference to the Soviet defense mechanism.

A GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILE

The CHAIRMAN. The conclusion is that the Russians developed a more powerful vehicle, rocket, than we had thought they had, I guess?

Mr. MCCONE. This is the conclusion that I draw from all of the testimony, although Mr. Powers does not know and cannot say for sure what brought him down. No one saw a ground-to-air missile. But when you take his story and you take all collateral intelligence and examine the results of previous flights, you can only come to the conclusion that it must have been a ground-to-air missile, plus the fact that we knew from other intelligence that he was flying over Soviet air defense sites.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Sparkman, do you have any questions? Senator SPARKMAN. Did I understand you to say that the plane was flying in excess of 60,000 feet at the time?

Mr. MCCONE. It was flying at 70,000 feet, Senator Sparkman.
Senator SPARKMAN. 70,000 feet?

Mr. MCCONE. Yes. The Soviets said that it was 68,000 feet, and Powers admitted 68,000 feet, although that was below his actual altitude and several feet below the capability of the plane, so we just let it go at that. That was consistent with his instructions, incidentally.

Senator SPARKMAN. We do not have any ground-to-air rocket in that range, do we?

Mr. MCCONE. I do not know-on the effective range of the Nike and the Nike Hercules-but I would think that it would be up in that altitude, yes. Colonel, could you answer that question?

Senator SPARKMAN. The Nike Zeus.

Major CORDES. To the best of my knowledge the Nike Ajax and the Nike Hercules could reach to this altitude.

Senator SYMINGTON. I think you are wrong, but I will check it. Major CORDES. The Nike Hercules; and the Ajax is open to question, sir.

MECHANISM FOR DESTROYING THE PLANE

Senator SPARKMAN. I notice the gentleman sitting by you is holding some kind of an instrument. What is that?

Mr. HOUSTON. There was a lot of talk about whether it was just the activating of a fuse which could have destroyed the plane. This is not just a button you push. You have to go through four actions. There are covers here which are wired down. First you have to break the cover up like that, then set that switch, and then break that cover and set that switch, and then he has 70 seconds in which to get out. So it is not just as easy as pushing a button.

Senator SPARKMAN. That is what I mean. I believe, according to the statement, he said that there was no way of-first, he could not get to it, and second, when he thought he might maneuver his way to it, he felt he could not get out within the 70 seconds, is that right?

Mr. MCCONE. That is correct.

Mr. HOUSTON. At that time he could get to it. It was within reach, easy reach at that time. But he did not know yet whether he could go out because he could not get into his ejection mechanism, so he thought he would wait until he got clear. When he got clear he was halfway out of the plane and he could not get in, owing to the G forces, and reach it.

MODEL OF THE PLANE

Mr. MCCONE. I think if Major Cordes could get this plane, he could describe Mr. Powers' story of what happened to him. Quite by coincidence, a U-2 plane came down in Louisiana on the 2nd of January, and the pilot of the plane describes the performance of the plane, and it was just identical with that of Mr. Powers-conformed practically identically with what Mr. Powers had to say.

Major CORDES. My apologies to you, sir. You have it already, Sen

ator.

Senator SYMINGTON. You do it so well, I would like to hear it three or four times more.

Major CORDES. This is a model of the U-2 of the type that Mr. Powers was flying.

These are auxiliary fuel tanks. The engine is located in the fuselage, in the area indicated thusly.

These are the air scoops. This is the cockpit. The equipment bay where the camera is located is just behind the pilot in this area.