On Oct. 15, the Soviet cargo ship Kurako leaves from Kaliningrad and sails for Cuba with equipment for R-14 missiles. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Navy and Marines launch PHIBRIGLEX-62, a military exercise involving an attack on a Puerto Rican island to overthrow imaginary dictator referred to as "ORTSAC" -- "Castro" spelled backwards. Intelligence analysts in Washington use photos from a reconnaissance flight to identify 23-24 missile sites in Cuba. They also identify parts of a Soviet medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) in San Cristobal.
When CIA Deputy Director Ray Cline is informed that there is now concrete proof of the presence of Soviet missiles on Cuba, he orders all evidence to be rechecked. Key members of the Kennedy administration are then informed of the discovery of missiles on the island. Subsequently, U.S. covert actions in Cuba are accelerated with the Special Group Augmented (SGA) -- an interagency group created to oversee "Operation Mongoose" -- demanding "new and imaginative approaches [to] get rid of the Castro Regime." However, the National Security Agency (NSA) refuses to alert President Kennedy to this new information until the next morning, as they are worried that calling an emergency nighttime meeting in the White House could attract attention and damage secrecy.
National Security Archive
