Saturday, February 13, 2010

Project Azorian

Awesome.

In 1974, far out in the Pacific, a U.S. ship pretending to be a deep-sea mining vessel fished a sunken Soviet nuclear-armed submarine out of the ocean depths, took what it could of the wreck and made off to Hawaii with its purloined prize.

Now, Washington is owning up to Project Azorian, a brazen mission from the days of high-stakes — and high-seas — Cold War rivalry.

After more than 30 years of refusing to confirm the barest facts of what the world already knew, the CIA has released an internal account of Project Azorian, though with juicy details taken out. The account surfaced Friday at the hands of private researchers from the National Security Archive who used the Freedom of Information Act to achieve the declassification.

[...]

Despite the declassified article, the greatest mysteries of Project Azorian remain buried three miles down and in CIA files: exactly what parts of the sub were retrieved, what intelligence was derived from them and whether the mission was a waste of time and money. Despite the veil over the project, its existence has been known for decades.

“It’s a pretty meaty description of the operation from inception to death,” said Matthew Aid, the researcher who had been seeking the article since 2007, when he learned of its publication thanks to a footnote he spotted in other documents. “But what’s missing in the end is, what did we get for it? The answer is, we still don’t know.”

(5) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1320 hrs
Foreign Affairs + Military + Technology

  1. Project Azorian, eh?

    It’s been Project Jennifer since Sy Hersh’s 1975 article.  We still don’t know anything more on the results side that isn’t already known; all we got from this is the cost accounting.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 13, 2010 at 1738 hrs


  2. A new documentary film with interviews of project engineers and actual mission footage is now available at:
    http://www.projectjennifer.at/

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 13, 2010 at 1832 hrs


  3. Ancient cold war history -Owen.

    What?

    Did you just wake up?

    Posted by Swamp Gas on February 13, 2010 at 2336 hrs


  4. @ SwampGas:  You are correct.  This project has been well know for years.  Rumors abounded in the Submarine Service in my day.  In fact, I recall the roll-out of the Glomar in the mid-70’s and how it was going to revolutionize oil exploration.  Time mag, I think.  The real story came out in the early 80’s as I recall.

    Posted by Steve on February 14, 2010 at 1428 hrs


  5. Y’all are missing the point of the article.  Yes it’s been well known for years, but the CIA is finally admitting it.  Hopefully it will lead to more declassified information on the program soon (as long as it is within the interests of national security).

    Posted by Owen on February 14, 2010 at 1451 hrs


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