1974 - Project Azorian - CIA Legacy

This is one of 10 legacy exhibits the CIA makes available concerning their legacy. It provides a summary of efforts in Project Azorian (also sometimes known as Project Jennifer in the press )from 1970 to 1974 to recover the sunken soviet submarine K-129 from the bottom of the Pacific using the ship Hughes Glomar Explorer.

Sailing from Long Beach, California, the Glomar Explorer arrived over the recovery site on 4 July 1974 and conducted salvage operations for more than two months under total secrecy–despite much of the time being monitored by nearby Soviet ships curious about its mission. The crew encountered many problems, some serious, but quickly overcame them, and the lift proceeded according to plan. However, when the submarine section was about halfway up, it broke apart, and a portion plunged back to the ocean bottom. Crestfallen, the Glomar crew successfully hauled up the portion that remained in the capture vehicle. Among the contents of the recovered section were the bodies of six Soviet submariners. They were given a formal military burial at sea. In a gesture of good will, Director of Central Intelligence Robert Gates presented a film of the burial ceremony to Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1992.

Almost immediately after the disappointing recovery effort, planning began for a second mission to recover the lost portion. A bizarre and totally unforeseen occurrence, however, had already started a chain of events that would ultimately expose the Glomar Explorer’s true purpose and make another mission impossible. In June 1974, just before the Glomar set sail, thieves had broken into one of the Hughes offices in Los Angeles and stolen secret documents, one tying Howard Hughes to CIA and the Glomar Explorer. Desperate to recover this document, CIA called in the FBI, which in turn enlisted the Los Angeles Police Department. The search drew attention, and by the autumn of 1974 the media began to pick up rumors of a sensational story.

Director of Central Intelligence William E. Colby personally appealed to those who had learned about AZORIAN not to disclose the project. For a while they cooperated, but on 7 February 1975 the Los Angeles Times published an account that made connections between the robbery, Hughes, CIA, and the recovery operation. After that, investigative reporter Jack Anderson broke the story on national television, asserting that Navy experts had told him the sunken submarine contained no real secrets and that the project was a waste of taxpayers’ money. Journalists flooded into the Long Beach area where the Glomar was preparing for its second mission. The Ford Administration neither confirmed nor denied any of the stories in circulation, but by late June, the Soviets had assigned a ship to monitor and guard the recovery site. With Glomar’s cover blown, the White House canceled further recovery operations.