Park University to Host CIA Historian Discussion of Area 51 and Development of U-2 and A-12 Aircraft

Oct. 7, 2019 — Brent Geary, Ph.D., a historian with the Central Intelligence Agency and its Center for the Study of Intelligence, will present a discussion on “Very Secret, Very Cool, but not Aliens: The U-2, the A-12 and Area 51” at Park University on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The event will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Jenkin and Barbara David Theater within Alumni Hall on the University’s Parkville Campus. Admission to the discussion is free and open to the public.

For decades, the aerial surveillance programs of the CIA were shrouded in mystery by both design and necessity. Unfortunately, according to Geary, their secrecy and spectacular technological achievements combined to add fuel to conspiracy theories related to extraterrestrials at a time when popular culture experienced a surge in interest in the topic. The presentation will explore the development of the U-2 and A-12, the faster forerunner of the more famous SR-71 Blackbird, the CIAs purchase and use of the test site known as Area 51 in their development and their contributions to the history of American aviation, intelligence, foreign policy and, inadvertently, popular culture.

Geary is a career leadership analyst who has worked primarily on Iran and the Middle East. In his role as an Iran expert, he briefed senior U.S. government and military leaders, including President Barack Obama in 2012, and foreign leaders. He spent one year as a president’s daily briefer at the White House serving then Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan, and other members of the White House’s National Security Council staff.

A Navy veteran, Geary served from 1990-94 as an avionics technician. He was deployed twice to the Persian Gulf on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Geary earned a doctoral degree in history from Ohio University and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University.

Geary’s discussion is presented in partnership with the Command and General Staff College Foundation at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the National Archives at Kansas City.