FOIAWEAR — SUEZ / The Estimate That Called the Canal Tee

FOIAWEAR / ARCHIVE SERIES 066

SUEZ — on 5 September 1956 the intelligence community put out a Special National Intelligence Estimate on what war over the canal would look like. It is not a prediction of whether; the paper takes the fighting as given and prices it out.

It opens on the trigger: “Assuming that the British and French use military force against Egypt, it will probably be after they are confronted by another direct and major Egyptian challenge — such as Egyptian denial of their transit rights through the canal or violence against their nationals.” Then the timetable, and it is short: “Within 24 hours, they could probably seize key points along the Suez Canal by amphibious landings in the Port Said area and airborne landings near Ismailia and possibly elsewhere. However, it would probably be about a week before military control of the canal could be assured, and in any case Egyptian execution of prepared demolitions and other blocking operations in the canal could not be prevented.”

Could not be prevented. Nasser's answer to the invasion was to sink ships in the canal, and the waterway stayed shut for months.

The cover carries the machinery of the period, which is half the pleasure of the document: submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence, concurred in by the Intelligence Advisory Committee — State, Army, Navy, Air Force and the Joint Staff — while “The Atomic Energy Commission Representative to the IAC, and the Assistant Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, abstained, the subject being outside of their jurisdiction.”

The artwork is the canal itself on the night the estimate describes: a freighter scuttled across the fairway, searchlights sweeping the bank, a launch moving on the water, and one parachute still coming down. No faces are depicted.

The QR code on the front opens the source: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp79r01012a007400030001-8 — the released SNIE 30-4-56, “Probable Repercussions of British-French Military Action in the Suez Crisis.” Every quotation above is from it.

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 canal at night in amber, bone, indigo 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.

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