The Near Miss

Rarely in his career as a spy had U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers been under thicker wraps than those that enveloped him last week. Although the President described him as "a free agent," he remained in a top-secret hideout under the vigilant custody of the Federal Government. Questioning by a board headed by Federal Judge E. Barrett Prettyman, plus intensive analysis of his account by CIA agents, had convinced the Government that Powers acquitted himself well as a Russian captive. But Powers' scheduled emergence from hiding was postponed while CIA Boss John McCone, with the Prettyman report in his hands, continued checking details of Powers' testimony be fore reporting his conclusions to Congress.

Powers' original story of how he was brought down in Russia checked out, the experts agreed. They reached the conclusion that his structurally frail U-2 photo-reconnaissance plane probably had not actually been hit but was downed by a near miss --the "orange flash" Powers reported seeing --probably from a rocket with a proximity fuse. The investigators believe that Powers' U-2 flight was the first in four years to pass directly over a Soviet rocket battery --and that it did not take a very sophisticated Russian effort to bring him down (even a first-generation U.S. antiaircraft missile, the Nike-Ajax, could bag a U-2 at 68,000 feet). Once he fell into Russian hands, Powers refused to give his captors information that would have been highly useful to them, such as the names of his fellow U-2 pilots, what he knew about U-2 flights through the years and the location of other U-2 bases unknown to the Russians.

At his home in Pound, Va., a mountain of mail accumulated for Powers, everything from anonymous threatening letters to offers of large sums of money for writing articles and books. But any writing and any talking that Powers undertakes will be under the strict surveillance of the Government; like all former spies, he will be censored and controlled, at least partly, in everything he says or writes for the rest of his life. From Powers' hideaway came word, so far unconfirmed by officials, that he has been offered his old Air Force job, with a major's commission.

The CIA is reluctant to have Powers appear on Capitol Hill for fear that he might spill some secret or mislead the Congressmen by being unable to answer their questions fully. Powers has been told that, as a free citizen, he can refuse to testify before the committee or meet reporters--but he will probably follow the advice of the Administration, which has already promised that he will get a chance to appear in public.

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