NSA and the Cuban Missile Crisis

In

respnse

to

the

potential

threat

and

the

administration's

interest

in

it,

the

U.S.

intelligence

community

began

a

new

focus

on

information

about

Cuba.

The

National

Security

Agency

also

beefed

up

its

coverage

of

Cuba

and

Soviet

support

for

the

island

nation.

In

Havana,

one

of

the

consequences

of

its

alignment

with

the

USSR

was

fear

that

the

United

States

might

intervene

against

the

new

Cuban

government.

This

fear

materialized

in

later

1961

when

Cuban exiles,

trained

by

America's

CIA,

staged

an

invasion

of

Cuban territory

at

the

Bay

of

Pigs.

Although

the

invasion

was

quickly

repulsed,

it

intensified

an

arms

buildup

that

was

already

under

way. ...