Out in the Open: U.S. GEOINT and OSINT in the Cold War 1946-1986

Abstract

This thesis explores and describes the ways in which spaceborne and aerial reconnaissance platforms and open source intelligence together provided the U.S. with a distinct strategic advantage over the USSR in the Cold War. Comprising five chapters and three case studies, this thesis explores the multifaceted ways that geospatial and open source intelligence capabilities have shaped intelligence policy and supported the national interest. Beginning in the post-World War II era and concluding in 1986, geospatial power, the Foreign Broadcast Information Agency, the missile gap, the CORONA program, and the Strategic Defense Initiative comprise the bulk of this thesis’ scholarship. In highlighting for the reader the extent to which issues related to the growth of GEOINT and OSINT can be viewed as solutions to some of the most pervasive issues facing the Intelligence Community today, this thesis promotes the idea that operational security, innovation, and collaboration across agencies led directly to a paradigmatic shift in intelligence collection and analysis. This thesis delves into the evolution of geospatial power, revealing the particular ways in which the growth of such power contributed to policy and security. With case studies on the Sputnik moment, the conception and development of the U-2, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, this thesis provides robust evidence supporting the core argument. Furthermore, this thesis highlights how a historian of the era can address contemporary issues facing the USIC, such as machine learning, data analysis, and classification, thereby providing novel insight into how to deal with such issues today.