Everett Hineman

R. Evans Hineman (known as Everett Hineman) joined the CIA in 1964 as a scientist at the FMSAC - Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center (Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center), the agency's principal unit for tracking Soviet missile and space programs. Over the following two decades he rose through the Directorate of Science and Technology, gaining deep expertise in technical collection systems.

DDS&T and Program B (1982–1989)

The NRO's declassified leaders document records Hineman as Deputy Director of Science and Technology (DDS&T) from 3 July 1982 to 28 August 1989. As DDS&T, Hineman was the CIA's principal officer within the National Reconnaissance Office and, by that role, the nominal director of Program B — the CIA's element of the National Reconnaissance Program responsible for geosynchronous SIGINT satellites (Rhyolite, Aquacade, Magnum) and, as a competitive outcome, the electro-optical KH-11 KENNEN system.

In practice, the DDS&T could not devote sufficient attention to day-to-day Program B operations; those responsibilities devolved to the director of the Office of Development and Engineering. Robert Kohler served in that operational capacity from April 1982 through August 1985, followed by Julian Caballero.

Hineman's relationship to Pine Gap (Joint Defense Facility Pine Gap, Alice Springs, Australia) was organizational rather than operational: as DDS&T he sat atop the chain that included the Office of SIGINT Operations, which managed the facility. The first US Chief of Facility at Pine Gap was Richard Lee Stallings, a senior CIA officer in the Office of ELINT, who arrived in Australia in September 1966 and moved to Alice Springs in January 1967 — roughly 16 years before Hineman's DDS&T appointment.

UAP Connections

• The Inman–Oechsler Referral (1989): Admiral Bobby Ray Inman recorded a phone call with aerospace engineer Bob Oechsler, naming Hineman as "the best person to ask" about whether recovered UAP vehicles might be made available for technological research. Inman's language was hedged speculation, not confirmation of a program.

• The Langley Meeting (August 10, 1989): Oechsler secured a meeting with Hineman at CIA headquarters. Oechsler pressed him on Area 51, Bob Lazar, S-4, and proposed writing an official independent history of the UFO program. Hineman stonewalled, attempting to give the impression he knew nothing.

• Retirement Day Call (September 1, 1989): Hineman called Oechsler on his exact retirement date to officially declare: "I don't see any prospects for doing any business... there's no need for anything along these lines; at least at this time."

• Recent Email Exchange (circa 2020s): Twitter researcher "@rgh_ufos" emailed Hineman regarding 1980s UAP programs, mentioning Admiral Inman's referral. Hineman replied: "I am a long way and quite a few years from working in the area you are researching, however given that Bobby [Ray] Inman gave you my name I will give it a shot. My background is in technical intelligence not US systems... Send me your questions and I will try to help." This response is widely read in UAP research circles as a tacit admission that he worked in UAP technical intelligence during the 1980s.

Post-Retirement

Following his 1989 retirement, Hineman was named President of TASC after its acquisition by Litton Industries. When Northrop Grumman made the decision to sell TASC in 2009, Hineman served as one of the deal's advisors alongside former DDS&T Donald Kerr. He also held executive roles at ManTech International Corporation.

Source: Pulling the Thread: CIA Directorate of Science & Technology (Reddit, 2023)