Richard Bissell Jr
Richard Bissell Jr. was a senior Central Intelligence Agency official who served as CIA Deputy Director for Plans (clandestine services) and was one of the two co-directors of the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) upon its founding in 1961. Bissell was a central architect of the CIA's early technical intelligence programs, including the U-2 spy plane and the Corona film-return satellite system, making him a foundational figure in both the overhead reconnaissance enterprise and — according to UAP claims — the early institutional management of UAP-related programs.
| Role | CIA Deputy Director for Plans; first NRO co-director |
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Role in UAP Programs
According to claims made by economist and senior government adviser Harold Malmgren, Bissell allegedly confirmed to him that a UFO crash occurred in Magenta, Italy in 1933 and briefed him on "otherworldly technologies" associated with that event. UAP researcher Gerb presents this claimed disclosure as evidence that the NRO's founding leadership was aware of and connected to pre-existing UFO recovery programs from the organization's inception in 1961. As co-director of the NRO, Bissell's alleged knowledge of such programs would place the NRO at the center of UAP legacy program oversight from the very beginning.