Powers Case: Ike States Policy On Spies and Open Skies
Powers Case: Ike States Policy On Spies and Open Skies
Ike States Policy on Spies and Open Skies. (U-2 Affair, Gary Powers incident) President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives White House press conference. He defends intelligence gathering to prevent "another Pearl Harbor," blames Soviet Union for secrecy and concealment. He refers to his 1955 "open skies" proposal to allow surveillance over U.S. and U.S.S.R., to prevent possible surprise attacks. Eisenhower, "No one wants another Pearl Harbor. This means that we must have knowledge of military forces & preparations around the world, especially those capable of massive surprise attack. Secrecy in the Soviet Union makes this essential. In most of the world no large scale attack could be prepared in secret. But in the Soviet Union there is a fetish of secrecy & concealment. This is a major cause of international tension & uneasiness today. Our deterrent must never be placed in jeopardy. The safety of the whole free world demands this. We prefer and work for a different kind of world & a different way of obtaining the information essential to confidence & effective deterrence. Open societies in the day of present weapons are the only answer. This was the reason for my open skies proposal in 1955 which I was ready instantly to put into effect to permit aerial observation over the U.S. and Soviet Union to ensure that no surprise attack was being prepared against anyone. I will bring up the Open Skies proposal again in Paris since it is a means of ending concealment and suspicion."