Bay of Pigs Invasion
As many as 15 U-2 sorties provided support for the April 1960 Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba by the United States. Scientists such as Edwin H. Land, James Rhyne Killian who had originally conceived the U-2 and had advocated for its development and deployment as a tool of scientific reconnaissance felt betrayed by the use of the U-2 for "dirty tricks" covert operations, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion. Richard M. Bissel, the CIA official in charge of both the U-2 program and CIA covert operations, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion, had been a good friend of Land and Killian, but such use of the U-2s strained their friendship.