Reconnaissance Chief James Q. Reber and His Pictures

Few authorities companies have the fortune of being situated in a rural, woodland setting as CIA is. Sitting on 258 acres throughout the Potomac River from Washington, DC, CIA Headquarters is a success of former Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Allen Dulles’ imaginative and prescient for a campus-like atmosphere. The Original Headquarters Building (OHB), accomplished in 1961, was fastidiously designed to suit comfortably into these pure environment. Recognizing its enchantment, former DCI William Colby would write, “[w]e are fortunate in having a headquarters building and campus which rank among the most attractive and interesting of all federal establishments.” This sentiment was maybe none higher captured than in a sequence of movie pictures by James Q. Reber, a frontrunner within the early days of the American reconnaissance program who additionally occurred to be an newbie photographer.

Reber, born on July 16, 1911 in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, had an fascinating and distinguished profession spanning 39 years, the final 22 with CIA. He earned a PhD in worldwide relations on the University of Chicago in 1939. He then labored as a trainer for a number of years earlier than starting his authorities profession in 1943 with the Department of State. In 1950 he joined CIA the place he headed the Office of Intelligence Coordination, a part of the newly created Directorate of Intelligence.

Around the identical time, with the beginning of the Cold War, the United States was amplifying its efforts to acquire details about the intentions and capabilities of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Bloc was more and more isolating itself from the remainder of the world. Tight safety alongside its borders and throughout communication strains stifled conventional strategies for intelligence gathering. The United States turned to aerial reconnaissance to find out the true scope of the Soviet menace. CIA’s entry into the world of aerial reconnaissance started with the event of the U-2 plane in 1954.

From the very starting of the U-2 program, it was obvious that an workplace was wanted to develop and coordinate assortment necessities. Richard Bissell, supervisor of the U-2 program, established the Ad Hoc Requirements Committee (ARC) to pick out and prioritize targets for the covert overhead reconnaissance overflights. Reber, who had expertise coordinating with different intelligence companies, was named Chairman of the ARC. This was a significant management function within the nationwide reconnaissance group.

The pictures from the U-2 overflights proved a priceless supply of intelligence. This covert intelligence gathering of the Soviet Union continued till May 1, 1960, when the Soviets shot down a U-2 plane and captured its CIA pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The ensuing diplomatic tensions brought on President Eisenhower to droop all U-2 flights over the Soviet Union. Within a number of months, nevertheless, the United States launched its first profitable reconnaissance satellite tv for pc as a part of the CORONA program. This flight supplied extra photographic protection of the Soviet Union than all earlier U-2 missions. The ARC committee was finally taken over by the United States Intelligence Board and renamed the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance, the place Reber continued as Chairman. The committee’s actions morphed into prioritizing targets for early imaging satellite tv for pc missions. Over the years, CORONA grew to become the only most essential supply of intelligence on Soviet strategic forces, together with missile launch complexes, ballistic-missile submarine deployment, air bases, and air defenses.

Reber would go on to serve 4 years as deputy director of National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Highly revered within the Intelligence Community, he was instrumental in fostering an efficient working relationship between CIA and Department of Defense—because it was recognized then—within the early days of the NRO and the National Reconnaissance Program.

In addition to his work in reconnaissance, Reber was founder and chairman of the CIA Fine Arts Commission. The fee advises and acts for the Director of the CIA on aesthetic issues round CIA Headquarters. It helps implement constructing and customary space enhancements and acquires and shows new paintings and reveals for CIA.

Reber’s penchant for the humanities and pictures continued after his retirement in 1972. He went on to publish a number of collections of his photos and maintained an curiosity in CIA’s high quality arts program. In 2004, CIA added an set up of his pictures within the Headquarters Auditorium. A CIA workforce information bulletin accompanying the opening of the exhibit stated of James Q. Reber, “he made the CIA a finer place to work.”

SEE MORE OF REBER’S PHOTOGRAPHS: