WILLIAM JOHN CRAWFORD
He was born in nineteen twenty-four and would eventually study accounting at Fort Hayes State College in Kansas. William served in the United States Air Force amidst the nineteen forties as a pilot and he later attended Drury College in Missouri. He would instruct classes on the principles of Economics at the same educational institution for two years following his graduation. In the course of nineteen fifty-two Crawford began serving the Agency’s Clerical Branch and studied counterinsurgency orientation, photographic intelligence, and counterintelligence training. He was the Acting Executive Officer at some periods for Project AQUATONE's Detachment C military group which collaborated with the United States Navy. The AQUATONE project included the use of naval carrier’s to assist the deployment of U-2 spy planes and increase the range of intelligence gathering capabilities.

The operations William managed subsequently that decade included U-2 pilot testing for missions and the development of additional surveillance aircraft for targeting the Soviet Union. Amongst nineteen sixty he was the Executive Officer for Tokyo Station at the Atsugi military base and handled intelligence assets elsewhere in Japan. Crawford subsequently was promoted to administration officer four years later and reassigned to Lebanese capital of Beirut. He oversaw assigned Middle Eastern operations in multiple other nations the next four years and would eventually return to Langley headquarters. William finished the decade as a member of the Technical Services Division support group and was reassigned to London Station in Europe amidst nineteen seventy-one. After over twenty years of government employment he retired amid nineteen seventy-four. Crawford was questioned later that decade by House Select Committee investigators regarding his experiences with the U-2 program.

Biographic Profile House Select Committee Interview