Research Article

ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

Number: 5 December 31, 2025
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ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

Abstract

This article examines how the CIA assessed and managed the U.S. Jupiter ballistic missiles deployed in Türkiye and Italy during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and how those intelligence assessments shaped U.S. policy and alliance relations. The aim is to reconstruct the role of the CIA not simply as a provider of information, but as an active participant in crisis diplomacy and alliance management. Using a qualitative, process-tracing methodology, the study analyzes declassified CIA reports, State Department telegrams in Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), and related archival records to link shifts in intelligence assessment to key policy decisions between 1959 and the Jupiters’ removal in April 1963. The research finds that CIA analysts regarded the Jupiter IRBMs as militarily obsolete yet politically indispensable symbols of U.S. commitment to allies. Before the crisis, the Agency anticipated that Soviet leaders would view U.S. missiles on their periphery as provocative, but no policy adjustment followed because of expected allied resistance. During the crisis, CIA reporting initially argued against openly trading the Jupiters for Soviet missiles in Cuba on alliance credibility grounds. Field reporting then revealed divergent allied preferences: Italian leaders quietly accepted withdrawal under a NATO modernization framework, whereas Turkish leaders vehemently opposed any perceived “trade.” CIA analysis and liaison work were crucial in navigating these differences and in shaping the secret arrangement that allowed the Jupiters’ removal without visibly undermining NATO deterrence. The article’s importance lies in relocating the Cuban Missile Crisis within the politics of alliance nuclear sharing and extended deterrence. It contributes to the literature on intelligence and foreign policy by showing how intelligence organizations can structure bargaining options, manage intra-alliance sensitivities, and facilitate face-saving outcomes in high-stakes nuclear crises.

Keywords

References

  1. Archival and primary sources
  2. Burr, W. (2019, 30 October). Nuclear weapons and Turkey since 1959 (National Security Archive Briefing Book No. 688). National Security Archive. Headnote to Document 13, “Memorandum of Conversation, 14 December 1962, Top Secret.”
  3. Central Intelligence Agency. (1962, September 19). Special National Intelligence Estimate 85-3-62: The military build-up in Cuba. In E. C. Keefer, C. S. Sampson, & L. J. Smith (Eds.), Foreign relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume XI: Cuban missile crisis and aftermath. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  4. McAuliffe, M. (Ed.). (1992). CIA documents on the Cuban missile crisis, 1962. Central Intelligence Agency, History Staff.
  5. Reinhardt, G. F. (1962, October 26). Telegram from the Embassy in Italy to the Department of State. In U.S. Department of State (Ed.), Foreign relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume XI: Cuban missile crisis and aftermath (Doc. 423). U.S. Government Printing Office.
  6. Hare, R. (1962, October 27). Telegram from the Embassy in Turkey to the Department of State. In U.S. Department of State (Ed.), Foreign relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume XI: Cuban missile crisis and aftermath (Doc. 425). U.S. Government Printing Office.
  7. U.S. Department of State. (1963, March 30). Telegram 1905 to U.S. Embassy Italy and U.S. Embassy Turkey. In W. Burr & L. F. Nuti (Eds.), The Jupiter missiles and the Cuban missile crisis endgame (Doc. 35). National Security Archive.
  8. U.S. Department of State. (1996a). Foreign relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume XI: Cuban missile crisis and aftermath (E. C. Keefer, C. S. Sampson, & L. J. Smith, Eds.). U.S. Government Printing Office.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Regional Studies, International Security, Politics in International Relations, Security Studies

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

December 3, 2025

Acceptance Date

December 30, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Number: 5

APA
Toman, M. (2025). ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Güvenlik Ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi, 5, 203-225. https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP
AMA
1.Toman M. ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Güvenlik ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi. 2025;(5):203-225. https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP
Chicago
Toman, Murat. 2025. “ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS”. Güvenlik Ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi, nos. 5: 203-25. https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP.
EndNote
Toman M (December 1, 2025) ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Güvenlik ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi 5 203–225.
IEEE
[1]M. Toman, “ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS”, Güvenlik ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi, no. 5, pp. 203–225, Dec. 2025, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP
ISNAD
Toman, Murat. “ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS”. Güvenlik ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi. 5 (December 1, 2025): 203-225. https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP.
JAMA
1.Toman M. ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Güvenlik ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi. 2025;:203–225.
MLA
Toman, Murat. “ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS”. Güvenlik Ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi, no. 5, Dec. 2025, pp. 203-25, https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP.
Vancouver
1.Murat Toman. ASSESSING CIA INTELLIGENCE ON TÜRKİYE DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Güvenlik ve İstihbarat Çalışmaları Dergisi [Internet]. 2025 Dec. 1;(5):203-25. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA64UP82KP