Operation Overflight (24 page)

At the interrogations I had admitted some hesitation when it came to renewing my CIA contract. I hadn't given the reasons, which were strictly personal, but had let my interrogators assume I found the job too nerve-racking and exhausting.

Grinev now asked me: Q. Were you sorry you renewed your contract?

A. Well, the reasons are hard to explain.

Q. Why are you sorry now?

A. Well, the situation I am in now is not too good. I haven't heard much about the news of the world since I have been here, but I understand that as a direct result of my flight, the Summit Conference did not take place and President Eisenhower's visit was called off. There was, I suppose, a great increase in tension in the world, and I am sincerely sorry I had anything to do with this.

And I was.

One by one Grinev was establishing the mitigating circumstances.

Q. Did you resist detention or did you contemplate resisting?

A. No, I did not.

Q. Have all your statements till now been truthful?

A. Yes, it is impossible to deny what I have done. Once in a while I will change my mind in some little details on this or that question.

Complete cooperation.

And, again, sincere repentance.

Q. What is your present attitude toward work in the CIA, and do you now understand the danger the flight entailed?

A. I understand a lot more now than I did before. At first I hesitated as to whether I should renew the contract. I did not want to sign. If I had a job, I would have refused to sign, now that I know some of the circumstances of my flight, though I don't know all of them, by any means. But as indicated a few moments ago, I am profoundly sorry I had any part in it.

D
EFENSE
C
OUNSEL
G
RINEV
: I have no more questions for today.

P
RESIDING
J
UDGE
: The court will adjourn until ten
A.M.
tomorrow, the eighteenth of August.

Like a well-coordinated team, my so-called “defense counsel” and the judge had arranged for this to be the last question. Now the headlines for the first day of the trial could read: POWERS “PROFOUNDLY SORRY” HE HAD ANY PART IN SPY FLIGHT.

Eight

P
rior to the conclusion of the trial's first day I had given Grinev messages for my family. I told him to tell Barbara that I was anxious for the trial to end so I could see her. I thanked my parents for the birthday present of the handkerchiefs; kidded my father about his natty bow tie—the first time I had seen him wearing one; and asked that my mother not attend the second day, but remain in her hotel room and rest.

As I was escorted back into the dock next morning, I noticed she wasn't present. Despite my instructions, this worried me. Maybe she was really sick and no one had told me. But then I saw my sister Jessica in her place. I hadn't realized she also had made the trip to Moscow. I knew that if she was here, my mother was all right; otherwise Jessica would have been with her. Her presence would, I knew, make the ordeal much easier for my parents, as she had a way of teasing that put them at ease.

These concerns out of the way, I had to concentrate on my own fate.

The session began promptly at ten
A.M.
Grinev asked half a dozen more questions, then turned me over to Rudenko for reexamination.

This time there was no question what he was attempting to establish.

Q. When you took off from Peshawar on May 1 for your flight, what countries did you fly over?

A. A part of Pakistan, a small part of Afghanistan—I do not know how much—and the Soviet Union.

Q. In other words, you violated the airspace of Afghanistan?

A. If there were no permission obtained by the authorities, then I did.

Q. No Afghan authorities gave you their permission?

A. They did not give me permission personally.

Q. Your superior officers did not say anything?

A. No.

Q. You thereby violated the sovereignty of the neutral state of Afghanistan?

A. If no permission was given to my detachment, then yes.

Q. But did your detachment ever get any permission to make flights along the borders of the Soviet Union?

A. I have no idea.

Still not a single objection from Grinev, though the introduction of such evidence was damning.

During the interrogations I had felt safe in mentioning the bordersurveillance flights. Presuming there was nothing illegal about them, I had even emphasized them, to take attention off my “oneoverflight” story. Now I could see this had been a mistake. If no permission had been obtained from the countries overflown, these flights were also illegal. And this being the case, I was not a “first-time offender,” but a man guilty of a number of previous “crimes.”

The dialogue immediately following was ridiculous enough to bring laughter from the spectators. But it was important to Rudenko's case.

Q. And did your detachment ever get any permission to make penetration flights over Soviet territory?

A. I would assume not.

Q. You assume. Perhaps you can tell us something more definite?

A. If any permission would have been obtained, it would have concerned higher authorities, and I would not have known anything about it.

Q. If there would have been such permission, you obviously would not be in the prisoner's box today.

A. That is why I assume we had no such permission.

Again Rudenko established my altitude as sixty-eight thousand feet, then asked, “It was at that altitude that you were struck down by a Soviet rocket?”

A. It was at that altitude that I was struck down by something.

Q. You say you were struck down by
something?

A. I had no idea what it was. I didn't see it.

Q. But it was at that altitude?

A. Yes.

The report of a Major Voronov, said to have been in charge of the rocket crew, was read. According to the report, “As the plane entered the firing range at an altitude of over twenty thousand meters, one rocket was fired and its explosion destroyed the target.”

Rudenko and I then reached a draw on the subject of my radio, his contention being that I didn't use it because of fear of detection, mine because of its limited range.

Then my maps got a going-over, the alternate routes through Finland, Sweden, and Norway drawing extra attention.

With the mention of Bodö came a special pleasure, one of the few thus far, the “black flag.”

Q. Before your flight on May 1, I960, Colonel Shelton handed you a piece of black cloth. For what purpose was this cloth?

A. I don't know. I was already in the airplane when I got it from Colonel Shelton. He ordered me to give this piece of black cloth to the representatives of the 10-10 detachment who were to meet me in Bodö.

Q. In the event of your successful flight over the Soviet Union?

A. At that time he thought it would be successful.

Q. This was your point of destination, and you were to have been met by representatives of the 10-10 detachment?

A. Yes.

Q. And you were to have handed them this piece of black cloth which was given to you by Shelton before your flight to the USSR?

A. Yes.

Q. In other words, this cloth was something in the nature of a password?

A. I have no idea.

Q. But what do you think?

Thus far I had resisted the temptation to get smart with Rudenko, knowing it could be held against me. But he had led himself up this blind alley.

A. I did not think I would need a password; the plane itself was proof who I was.

Q. The plane itself and Powers himself. But why this piece of cloth?

A. I don't know. This was the only instruction I received on this. Plainly exasperated, Rudenko said, “Let's leave this subject.”

Unimportant though it seemed, this exchange marked a turning point. Realizing that I could occasionally shake up Rudenko, I was no longer completely on the defensive. From now on I was determined to make him work doubly hard for his answers.

He immediately stumbled into another thicket, with the duplicate maps.

As noted earlier, I had been given a set of survival maps, which, in the event I went down, were to enable me to find the borders of the USSR. These had originally been stamped “Confidential” and “U.S. Air Force,” but someone had thoughtfully scissored out the words. Someone else, however, had stuck a second set in the plane, words still intact. A typical service snafu. But Rudenko was incapable of seeing that. He had to provide an explanation.

Q. This is quite clear, Defendant Powers. The two maps with these identifications cut out were in your possession and were to assist you, as you said, in getting out of the Soviet Union, but the other two maps were in the plane which you were to have destroyed on the orders of your masters.

That the explanation was nonsensical did not seem to occur to him. Apparently I had brought along an extra set of maps just so I could destroy them.

We came now to the watches and gold coins: Q. All these things were for bribing Soviet people?

A. It was to help me in any way to get out of the Soviet Union.

Q. I ask, for bribery?

A. If I could have done it, I would have resorted to bribing. If I could have bought food with the money, I would have bought it, for I would have had to make a fourteen-hundred-mile walk. In other words, the money and valuables were to be used in any way to aid myself.

Q. But you, of course, found that you were unable to use the money for bribing Soviet citizens. The very first Soviet citizens
whom you met disarmed you and handed you over to the authorities.

A. I didn't try to bribe them.

Rudenko had no further questions. I was not finished testifying, however. It was now the turn of the presiding judge to examine me. I was getting a course in Soviet courtroom procedure, one which I could very well have done without.

P
RESIDING
J
UDGE
V
IKTOR
V. B
ORISOGLEBSKY
: Defendant Powers, I ask you to answer my questions. What was the main objective of your flight on May 1?

A. As it was told to me, I was to follow the route and turn switches on and off as indicated on the map.

Q. For what reason?

A. I would assume that it was done for intelligence reasons.

In the transcript this was edited to remove Borisoglebsky's second question and revise my reply as follows: “As it was told to me, I was to follow the route and turn switches on and off as indicated on the map. It stands to reason that this was done for intelligence reasons.”

Q. You testified in this court yesterday that Colonel Shelton was particularly interested in rocket-launching sites.

A. Yes, he did mention one place on the map where there was a possible rocket-launching site.

Q. Would it be correct to say that the main objective of your flight on May 1 was to discover and register on the map all rocketlaunching sites?

A. I can only express my opinion on this matter. I feel sure that the experts who studied the film from my camera know what interested the people who sent me, but in my own opinion Soviet rockets interest not only us but the whole world as well. And I assume a flight like this would be to look for them, I suppose. But I repeat, I do not know, and I'm only expressing my own opinion.

As previously mentioned, the rocket-launching site, Tyuratam Cosmodrome, was not a primary target on this particular overflight but had been thrown in since I would be in the vicinity. I had emphasized it in the interrogations in the hope, successful I felt, that the Russians would focus on this rather than our major objectives.

Q. Defendant, did you realize that by intruding into the airspace of the Soviet Union you were violating the sovereignty of the USSR?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Why did you agree?

A. I was ordered to do so.

Q. Do you think now you did your country a good or an ill service?

A. I would say a very ill service.

Q. Did it not occur to you that by violating the Soviet frontiers you might torpedo the Summit Conference?

A. When I got my instructions, the Summit was farthest from my mind. I did not think of it.

Q. Did it occur to you that a flight might provoke military conflict?

A. The people who sent me should have thought of these things. My job was to carry out orders. I do not think it was my responsibility to make such decisions.

Q. Do you regret making this flight?

Grinev had warned me the question was coming. I had expected it from him or Rudenko, not the presiding judge. If I had entertained any doubts that they were working as a team, this settled them.

A. Yes, very much.

I didn't add that I regretted it only because it was unsuccessful.

Another of the judges, Major General Alexander I. Zakharov of the Air Force, now had his inning. As might be anticipated, his questions dealt with my flight training, details of the May 1 mission, instrumentation, and so forth. Except for a query about the granger, in which I managed to make clear it was designed for air-to-air rockets, none were loaded questions. Most of those which followed, from Major General Dmitry Z. Vorobyev of the Artillery, were. Vorobyev tried to trap me into saying I was familiar with the special equipment, but failed.

It was interesting how the questions dovetailed. What Rudenko left out, Grinev or one of the judges put in.

Finally I was allowed to sit down. Counting the previous day, I'd been on the stand nearly six hours.

Looking exceedingly uncomfortable in suits and ties, and obviously nervous about appearing before such a large audience, the four men from the state farm (who were later decorated by the USSR for heroism) related the details of my “capture.”

Something was missing from their testimony, but not until the last one had finished did I realize what it was. None of the four had mentioned the second parachute we had seen.