Aug. 31, 1962
A CIA agent stationed in Cuba reports that the port at Mariel, where many of the Soviet ships have been docking, is now closed to "unauthorized personnel" with rumors of the arrival of 40-foot rockets.
The CIA also receives a report that a 50-foot rocket launcher has been sighted in Cuba and that a further 11 Soviet cargo ships are sailing for the island.
Kennedy is informed of the presence of surface- to-air missile sites, shown above, in Cuba that had been confirmed by the U-2 surveillance flights on Aug. 29.
He then orders that the dissemination of intelligence about Soviet missiles be as limited as possible.
Republican Senator Kenneth Keating, however, tells Congress that there is evidence of Soviet "rocket installations in Cuba." The evidence he cites had previously been dismissed by the CIA as "soft."
National Security Archive
