Richard M. Bissell,Jr., one of the most important CIA spymasters in history, singlehandedly led the United States intelligence service from the age of Mata Hari into the space age. In December of 1954 Allen DULLES summoned Bissell to his office and handed him the responsibility for developing and operating the U-2 spy plane. Under his guidance the U-2 spy-plane, the A-12/SR-71 "Blackbird", and the Corona series of spy satellite(s) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in the 1960`s were developed and the agency rose to the pinacle of its power.
Bissell was the single-point-of-contact between the Government(CIA) and the Lockheed SKUNK WORKS for the aircraft.
Bissell was born in a house that his father bought from Samuel Clemens, he was educated at Groton and Yale and majored in History and Economics, earning a Phd in Economics from Yale. At the end of Wold War II he found himself in charge of administering the Marshall Plan that rehabilitated Europe`s War devastation.
Bissell was brought into the CIA in 1954, where he initiated a revolution in intelligence gathering techniques and developed a unique Gov/industry relationship between the CIA and Lockheed. Bissell and Kelly Johnson had a personal cooperative relationship; however the rest of the people at the SKUNK WORKS only knew Bissell as "Mr. B".
He is remembered by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office as the father of high-altitude photographic reconnaissance which did much to improve intelligence during the cold war. (and continues to this day to keep the U.S.A. SAFE!!)
On March 1, 1962 Richard BISSELL, with his family present in the White House, was awarded the National Security Medal for "outstanding contribution to the National Intelligence Effort". His wife Ann and children Ann Harriet and Winthrop witnessed President Kennedy present the medal.
Bissell was the single-point-of-contact between the Government(CIA) and the Lockheed SKUNK WORKS for the aircraft.
Bissell was born in a house that his father bought from Samuel Clemens, he was educated at Groton and Yale and majored in History and Economics, earning a Phd in Economics from Yale. At the end of Wold War II he found himself in charge of administering the Marshall Plan that rehabilitated Europe`s War devastation.
Bissell was brought into the CIA in 1954, where he initiated a revolution in intelligence gathering techniques and developed a unique Gov/industry relationship between the CIA and Lockheed. Bissell and Kelly Johnson had a personal cooperative relationship; however the rest of the people at the SKUNK WORKS only knew Bissell as "Mr. B".
He is remembered by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office as the father of high-altitude photographic reconnaissance which did much to improve intelligence during the cold war. (and continues to this day to keep the U.S.A. SAFE!!)
On March 1, 1962 Richard BISSELL, with his family present in the White House, was awarded the National Security Medal for "outstanding contribution to the National Intelligence Effort". His wife Ann and children Ann Harriet and Winthrop witnessed President Kennedy present the medal.
Richard M. Bissell,Jr., one of the most important CIA spymasters in history, singlehandedly led the United States intelligence service from the age of Mata Hari into the space age. In December of 1954 Allen DULLES summoned Bissell to his office and handed him the responsibility for developing and operating the U-2 spy plane. Under his guidance the U-2 spy-plane, the A-12/SR-71 "Blackbird", and the Corona series of spy satellite(s) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in the 1960`s were developed and the agency rose to the pinacle of its power.
Bissell was the single-point-of-contact between the Government(CIA) and the Lockheed SKUNK WORKS for the aircraft.
Bissell was born in a house that his father bought from Samuel Clemens, he was educated at Groton and Yale and majored in History and Economics, earning a Phd in Economics from Yale. At the end of Wold War II he found himself in charge of administering the Marshall Plan that rehabilitated Europe`s War devastation.
Bissell was brought into the CIA in 1954, where he initiated a revolution in intelligence gathering techniques and developed a unique Gov/industry relationship between the CIA and Lockheed. Bissell and Kelly Johnson had a personal cooperative relationship; however the rest of the people at the SKUNK WORKS only knew Bissell as "Mr. B".
He is remembered by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office as the father of high-altitude photographic reconnaissance which did much to improve intelligence during the cold war. (and continues to this day to keep the U.S.A. SAFE!!)
On March 1, 1962 Richard BISSELL, with his family present in the White House, was awarded the National Security Medal for "outstanding contribution to the National Intelligence Effort". His wife Ann and children Ann Harriet and Winthrop witnessed President Kennedy present the medal.
Bissell was the single-point-of-contact between the Government(CIA) and the Lockheed SKUNK WORKS for the aircraft.
Bissell was born in a house that his father bought from Samuel Clemens, he was educated at Groton and Yale and majored in History and Economics, earning a Phd in Economics from Yale. At the end of Wold War II he found himself in charge of administering the Marshall Plan that rehabilitated Europe`s War devastation.
Bissell was brought into the CIA in 1954, where he initiated a revolution in intelligence gathering techniques and developed a unique Gov/industry relationship between the CIA and Lockheed. Bissell and Kelly Johnson had a personal cooperative relationship; however the rest of the people at the SKUNK WORKS only knew Bissell as "Mr. B".
He is remembered by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office as the father of high-altitude photographic reconnaissance which did much to improve intelligence during the cold war. (and continues to this day to keep the U.S.A. SAFE!!)
On March 1, 1962 Richard BISSELL, with his family present in the White House, was awarded the National Security Medal for "outstanding contribution to the National Intelligence Effort". His wife Ann and children Ann Harriet and Winthrop witnessed President Kennedy present the medal.
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