Project Jennifer
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"Jennifer" was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 from the Pacific Ocean floor in the summer of 1974, using the purpose-built ship Glomar Explorer. The 1968 sinking of the K-129 occurred under unusual circumstances—far out of its patrol area, near Hawaii, possibly in firing position, and with subsequent localized nuclear contamination of the sea. Project Jennifer was one of the most complex and secretive intelligence operations of the Cold War.
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[edit] The target
On March 8, 1968 the American SOSUS (Sea Spider) hydrophone network detected an accidental explosion aboard a Soviet submarine. Explosion related observations were also recorded by a US satellite and a marine research vessel. The Soviets were unable to locate their sunken boat, but Halibut (SSN-587), modified to use specialized search equipment, succeeded in finding it near Hawaii. Henry Kissinger, then National Security Advisor, approved the clandestine plan to quietly recover the wreckage so the U.S. could study Soviet technology, as well as possibly recover cryptographic materials.
[edit] Building the Glomar Explorer, and its cover story
Billionaire businessman Howard Hughes—whose companies were already contractors of numerous US military weapons and aircraft—was secretly contracted by the CIA to build a massive ship that would be used to extract the sunken Soviet submarine from the ocean floor. Thus, on November 1, 1972, work began on the 63,000 ton (57,152,639 kg), 619-foot (189 m) long Hughes Glomar Explorer. To hide the true mission of the ship, a cover story was concocted, asserting that the Hughes Glomar Explorer was being constructed for the Summa Corporation to mine for underwater manganese nodules.
[edit] Recovery
The Hughes Glomar Explorer employed a large mechanical claw that was designed to extend down to the ocean floor and lift the submerged submarine up through 16,500 feet of water. The ship was accompanied by a large submersible barge that was also built specifically for this mission. Named the Hughes Mining Barge, or HMB-1, this second ship was to hold the submarine once recovered. This allowed for the entire salvage process to happen underwater, away from the view of other ships, aircraft, or spy satellites. On July 4, 1974, the Hughes Glomar Explorer and the HMB-1 arrived at the recovery site and conducted salvage operations for over a month. Published reports indicate that during the operation on August 12, 1974, part of the claw broke off, causing the already damaged submarine to break in half while being raised. Only the front 38 feet of the Soviet submarine was salvaged. The published reports conclude that the recovered section did not have the missiles and code books that would have been of extraordinary value for U.S. military intelligence. However, according to some accounts, the section did include two nuclear torpedoes, cipher/code equipment, and various intelligence documents. The bodies of six crewmen were also recovered. Writer Clyde W. Burleson, author of the 1997 book The Jennifer Project, speculated that the whole submarine was recovered, with the CIA subsequently producing misinformation.
[edit] Public disclosure
[edit] The New York Times suppresses its story
In early 1974, investigative reporter and former Timesman Seymour Hersh had planned to publish a story on Project Jennifer. Bill Kovach, the New York Times Washington bureau chief at the time, said in 2005 that the government offered a convincing argument to delay publication in early 1974—exposure at that time, while the project was ongoing, "would have caused an international incident." The Times eventually published its account in 1975, after a story appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and included a five-paragraph explanation of the many twists and turns in the path to publication. [1]
[edit] Burglary and press reports
On June 5, 1974, Howard Hughes' headquarters in Los Angeles was burgled, and secret documents about the operation were taken. Ten days prior to that time Special Assistant AUSA William Turner had subpoenaed these documents located at 7040 Romaine Street for a Federal Grand Jury in Nevada conducting an investigation of Hughes and his takeover of airWest Airlines and possible connections between that and the Watergate break-in. Turner with assistance from the LAPD and the RCMP conducted an investigation with the Assistant DA in Los Angeles Michael Brenner and found links to organized crime but also to certain safe houses in Vancouver, Canada where several of the burglars went.
One of the individuals traced to the burglary appeared to have radiation poisoning and was linked to a Special British Forces Underwater Demolition World War II Association through a checking account. The actual documents were never recovered though some have claimed to have seen them. There is speculation that the theft of the documents were part of a cover-up related to political corruption at all levels as documented by Hughes over a period of forty years. Howard Hughes kept a written copy of all his actions and directions including detailed records of his dealings with political figures and government agencies. These papers would become the foundation of the story on Project Jennifer in the Los Angeles Times on February 7, 1975. After it appeared, the CIA attempted to convince news media to not publish further stories on the project. But by March 1975, numerous news stories had linked the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a ship publicly listed as a research vessel owned and operated by Summa Corporation, to the secret US government operation.
[edit] FOIA and the Glomar response
After stories had been published about the CIA's attempts to stop publication of information about Project Jennifer, Harriet Ann Phillippi, a journalist, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the CIA for any records about the CIA’s attempts. The CIA refused to either confirm or deny the existence of such documents. This type of evasive reply has since come to be known as the "Glomar response" or "Glomarization."
[edit] 2003 release of video
The U.S. government sent a video containing the 1974 memorial services for the Soviet seamen to Russia in the early 1990s. In 2003, portions of this video were shown on television programs concerning this operation, including a Cold War submarine episode of NOVA.
[edit] Conspiracy theory
Kenneth Sewell, in Red Star Rogue (2005), offers additional research and speculation. The book notes numerous inexplicable irregularities in the last voyage of K-129, which constituted highly criminal acts under Soviet naval protocols. Sewell makes the case that the particular Soviet submarine was chosen to imitate a Chinese submarine with nuclear armed missiles, hijacked by an 11 man special force masterminded by KGB hardliners, and actually attempted to launch a nuclear missile at Hawaii in an effort to provoke a confrontation between China and the United States. The book's hypothesis is that the missile's fail-safe devices were inadequately circumvented and sank the submarine when the nuclear armed missile self destructed upon unauthorized launch. According to Rogue, unique information from Project Jennifer may have aided prevention of a Stalinist KGB takeover in Soviet Russia and aided Nixon's rapprochement of Mao's China with the US in the early 1970s.
[edit] External links
- 'Burial at Sea' video recorded on September 4, 1974 obtained from the CIA by Freedom Of Information Act Request, in multiple video formats
- Project Jennifer and the Hughes Glomar Explorer
- Extensive bibliography
