“There was no means and no procedures”: Ibid.
Bucher was specifically instructed: Ibid.
“Ill-concealed disgust”: Murphy, op. cit., 376.
Johnson’s cheeks reddened: Johnson’s and Bucher’s facial expressions are described in “Admiral Says He Lacked Forces to Rescue,” New York Times, Jan. 30, 1969, 8.
CHAPTER 17: EVERYONE’S WORST NIGHTMARE
“A dent or some scratched paint”: RP, Vol. 2, 421.
Didn’t even know where the bags were stored: CA, Vol. 2, 626–48.
Prescribed a certain sequence: NA, RG 218, Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Records of Chairman (Gen.) Earle G. Wheeler, 1964–1970, box 29, folder: 091 Korea (re: Pueblo Incident, Jan. 68).
“It seemed like no one was”: CA, Vol. 4, 1846–49.
“Pale and skinny”: Time, Feb. 21, 1969.
“An immense amount of junk”: CA, Vol. 1, 114.
“Virtually to powder”: RP, Vol. 2, 354.
“Everyone’s worst nightmare”: Thomas R. Johnson, “American Cryptology During the Cold War, 1945–1989, Book II: Centralization Wins, 1960–1972,” National Security Agency, United States Cryptologic History, 1995, 439.
“I didn’t pay any attention”: Robert E. Newton, “The Capture of the USS Pueblo and Its Effect on SIGINT Operations,” National Security Agency, United States Cryptologic History, Special Series, Crisis Collection, Vol. 7, 1992, 67. This 245-page study was declassified, at the author’s request, under mandatory declassification review in 2007.
“A major intelligence coup”: Johnson, op. cit., 446.
Soviet military intelligence inspected: Newton, op. cit., 173.
Impede U.S. intelligence-collection: “Damage Assessment of the Compromise of Operational Intelligence Broadcast Messages on Board USS Pueblo (AGER-2),” March 17, 1969, III-B-5. This 50-page report was prepared jointly by the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, Navy, Air Force and Army. It was declassified, at the author’s request, under mandatory declassification review in 2007.
“Great danger”: Newton, op. cit., 150.
“Could not be deceived”; “more talkative and cooperative”; and “terrified condition”: Ibid., 129.
“We knew everything!”: “Interview with the Spy Master,” Washington Post Magazine, April 23, 1995, W18.
More than one million: Robert Hunter, Spy Hunter: Inside the FBI Investigation of the Walker Espionage Case (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1999), 202.
“If there had been a war”: Washington Post, Jan. 22, 1989, D1.
Vehemently denied: Pete Early, Family of Spies (Bantam Books, New York, 1988), 72.
“We innocent peons”: Langenberg’s Feb. 2, 1969, letter to his mother, copy in author’s possession.
Men still enjoyed strong public support: The poll is cited in “Pueblo’s Captain and Crew Given Support,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 10, 1969, 26.
“A 24-hour-a-day job”: Author interview with Edward Grimm.
“Bail her out”: Author interview with E. Miles Harvey.
“Welcome home, Captain”: Washington Post, March 9, 1969.
The only lukewarm assessment: RP, Vol. 3, 714.
“My faith in God and my country”: RP, Vol. 6, 1287.
He spoke evenly: New York Times, March 12, 1969.
“Just didn’t occur to me”: RP, Vol. 8, 1817.
“I never did actually surrender”: Ibid., 1831.
“Abnormally concerned”: Ibid., 1752.
“He still loves the Navy”: New York Times, May 7, 1969.
“His greatest reward”: RP, Vol. 8, 1863.
CHAPTER 18: BALM OF MERCY
“This is my home”: Omaha World-Herald, April 24, 1969.
“The verdict has already been returned”: Congressional Record, Senate, Vol. 115, No. 71, May 1, 1969.
“A single shot”: Time magazine, April 25, 1969.
Near Cape Town: Record of a Telephone Conversation Between President Nixon and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), April 15, 1969, 10 p.m., http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v19p1/d9.
“Strongly influenced”: CIA Intelligence Memorandum, “Communist Reactions to Certain US Actions,” April 17, 1969, http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v19p1/d14.
800 other … reconnaissance sorties: Memorandum for Director of Central Intelligence, “JRC Monthly Reconnaissance Schedule for January 1968,” Jan. 2, 1968, http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0001458144.pdf.
“Cursory and perfunctory”: Inq, 728.
“North Korean Air Force has been extremely sensitive”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 64.
“Complete blithering idiots”: NSA, Eugene Sheck, Oral History Interview, NSA-OH-26-82, 5.
“Saving our ass”: Ibid., 7.
“A deliberate effort to bury”: Report of the Special Subcommittee on the U.S.S. Pueblo of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, 91st Congress, First Session, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1969, 1656.
“No overt action”: Ibid., 1672.
“I was lukewarm”: Inq, 860.
“Are you in any way implying”: Report of the Special Subcommittee, op. cit., 805.
“Not to contact the South Korean air force”: Ibid., 877.
“It was kind of nice”: Ibid., 881.
“He just didn’t try”: Findings of Fact, Opinions, and Recommendations of a Court of Inquiry Convened by Order of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet, to Inquire into the Circumstances Relating to the Seizure of USS Pueblo (AGER 2), 88. The Navy released a copy of the report to the author under the Freedom of Information Act.
“Completely failed”: Ibid., 172.
“They would have hung Bucher”: Author interview with William Newsome.
Hyland was appalled: “The Pueblo Incident,” Naval History, Fall 1988, Vol. 2, No. 4, 55.
“Grumbling and dragging his heels”: Oral History of Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired), Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C., 2009, 631.