FOIAWEAR — SAN CRISTOBAL / Probable MRBM Launch Site Tee

FOIAWEAR / ARCHIVE SERIES 064

SAN CRISTOBAL — in October 1962 the photographs came back from Cuba and somebody had to read them. The interpreters worked at the National Photographic Interpretation Center, over light tables, with film strips taped down and stereoscopes held to their eyes, looking for shapes that should not be there in the hills west of Havana.

The file they produced carries a title that reads like a verdict: “PROBABLE MRBM LAUNCH SITE SAN CRISTOBAL, CUBA 22-42N 83-08W.” The follow-up study of the site is blunter still about how it began: the launch site “was first observed on photography” — and then, in the same sentence, that “there was no evidence of the site on” the last previous coverage. Between two flights over the same hills, a field became four launch positions.

What the interpreters counted there, from the report's own description: “4 launch positions with erectors and associated control equipment, 4 missile-ready tents, a microwave communication facility, a temporary tent support area” — alongside “eight permanent, single-story, frame, barracks-type buildings.” There were four sites in the group, running west to east: Site 1 near San Diego de los Baños, Site 2 near Los Palacios, Site 3 near San Cristóbal, Site 4 near Candelaria. A July 1963 report on Site 3 was produced to chart “day-by-day construction progress”; it was prepared, the cover states, “under NPIC Project JN-310/62 in response to ONI requirement 132-62,” from material “extracted from high- and low-level missions flown” over the island.

The artwork is what the work actually looked like: a lit table, film strips, a stereoscope, and three people bent over the glass in a dark room. No faces are depicted.

The QR code on the front opens the source: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp85t00339r000500240001-4 — the released report headed “Probable MRBM Launch Site San Cristobal, Cuba.” Every quotation above is from it or from the NPIC photographic interpretation report on the same site group.

Garment: Comfort Colors 1717, 6.1 oz garment-dyed cotton, S–4XL. Front print only; plain back. Artwork approximately 6.9 × 4.6 in, QR approximately 1.8 × 1.8 in.

Colours: offered in both dark and light garment colours — the light table in amber, bone, blue-grey and signal red on Black, Graphite, Espresso, Navy and Pepper, and the same scene struck as a dark ink plate on White, Ivory, Butter, Chalky Mint, Blossom, Light Green and Chambray.

Care: machine wash cold, inside out, tumble dry low. Do not iron the print directly.

FOIAWEAR is an independent brand and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Central Intelligence Agency or the United States government.