Spy Satellites Put U-2 Planes Out of Business

On February 22, 1995, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12951, a directive instructing the declassification of all images obtained from America's first group of spy satellites: CORONA, ARGON, and LANYARD. Before this point, no spy satellite photos had ever been released to the public. In fact, although the intelligence achieved as a result of satellite reconnaissance played an integral role in the formation of U.S. foreign policy towards countries like the Soviet Union and China during the 1960s and 1970s, the American public had no knowledge of the secret activity until 1978 when President Jimmy Carter disclosed the U.S. relied on satellite images to monitor arms control treaties. The recent release of the satellite imagery therefore, signifies not only an end to the silence surrounding the American space reconnaissance program but also represents another advance in the gradual disclosure of Cold War secrets.

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